Russia use delaying tactics in a bid to compete at Olympics

RUSSIA has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport for more time to prepare an appeal against their four-year ban from international sport, in a delaying tactic that could enable their athletes to compete at this summer’s Olympics. A hearing had been scheduled for the beginning of May after the World Anti-Doping Agency last year imposed a four-year ban on Russia for running a state-sponsored doping programme. But Sportsmail has learned that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency want more time to build their case.

CAS are considering the request and have yet to confirm a date for the hearing, with WADA officials concerned that any delay could allow Russia to compete in Tokyo. The presence of a Russian team at the Games would trigger uproar among athletes from other nations and could lead to podium protests, as Sportsmail revealed last year. If the CAS hearing is delayed then Russia’s ban would be rolled over to the Paris Games in 2024, pending RUSADA’s appeal. If the case takes place before the summer and the ban is upheld, then Russian athletes wishing to compete in Tokyo would have to do so under a neutral flag with a team name determined by CAS. WADA would like to have the matter resolved as soon as possible and have requested that the CAS hearing takes place in public so there is a greater understanding of how any punishment levelled against Russia will be implemented. A ban from international sport would extend to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the World Cup to be held later that year in Qatar, but not this summer’s Euro 2020 Championship.

l HAMMER thrower Mark Dry was last night understood to be ‘devastated’ after he was banned from athletics for four years. UK Anti-Doping are set to formally issue a suspension to the double Commonwealth bronze medallist today following nine months of legal wrangling. The anti-doping body originally barred the 31-year-old Scot last May when it asserted he had attempted to tamper with the doping control process by providing false information about his location for testing purposes on its whereabouts system on October 15, 2018. Last autumn, an appeals hearing ruled Dry’s offence was a firsttime filing failure but UKAD, unexpectedly, launched a counter-appeal and athletics sources confirmed they have won their case.