Russia refuse to reveal drug test figures
Manager defends side’s impressive running stats England also silent over additional samples
in Samara in Nizhny Novgorod
Russia yesterday continued to refuse to reveal how many drugs tests their players had undergone since the World Cup began – after being joined in doing so by England.
Stanislav Cherchesov, the manager of the host nation, snubbed questions from The Daily Telegraph about his side’s testing record ahead of their final Group A game against Uruguay today. The Football Association also refused to reveal whether England had undergone any drugs tests beyond those conducted on two players after the final whistle of every match.
The Daily Telegraph asked the FA after Eduard Bezuglov, Russia’s team doctor, last week bristled at questions about doping checks at the World Cup, declaring: “We’d also like to know how many probes the English gave.”
The same information was also sought from every other country at the tournament, with seven having responded to The Telegraph’s questions by last night. Egypt, Croatia, Iceland, Mexico, Poland and Serbia all confirmed that their players had undergone no additional tests.
Portugal declined to comment, although it is understood they, too, had not been subjected to supplementary testing. Russia and England were joined by Costa Rica – infuriated at the 2014 World Cup when seven of their side were tested after their win over Italy – in refusing to disclose details of sample collections carried out.
“Is this a question about the match or philosophy? I am not a doctor. We are talking about the match,” Cherchesov said yesterday.
Fifa, which is in charge of drugtesting at the World Cup, last week refused to reveal how many samples it had collected from Cherchesov’s men since the World Cup began. That was after Russia, branded the worst side ever to stage the tournament before a ball had been kicked, produced the best ever start by a host nation, beating Saudi Arabia and Egypt by an aggregate score of 8-1.
Official Fifa statistics also showed their players had run further and faster than any other side at the World Cup.
“If nobody has noticed anything but the runs and sprints, we will have to add something else, and that we will do. That’s the first thing,” Cherchesov said.
“Secondly, those who know what physiology is, we went through the Confederations Cup and the condition of the national team then was very good. We introduced some corrections, we addressed our problems, and that’s why the team looks even better.
“There is, of course, the inner motivation that we are playing at home and the public are supporting us. That’s maybe the ABC of why we are doing better than some others.”
Fifa has described Russia as “one of the most tested teams prior to the 2018 Fifa World Cup”. Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show that its 23-man squad were tested by the Russian Anti-doping Agency (Rusada) 88 times between January and May, including one player on seven occasions.
Rusada was suspended by the World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) in 2015 after an independent report found its employees gave advance notice of tests and “routinely” took bribes to cover-up doping.
It was banned from carrying out tests until last year, when its suspension was partially lifted under supervision by Wada-appointed experts and UK Anti-doping. Fifa, however, barred Russia from involvement in World Cup anti-doping.
Bezuglov last week claimed the host nation’s players had been tested more than 120 times by Fifa and more than 200 by Uefa and Rusada during two training camps this year.