Russian para riders out of Rio

RUSSIAN para dressage riders will not be allowed to compete at Rio after the country was thrown out of the Games.

The International Paralympic Committee’s governing board suspended Russia’s paralympic committee on 7 August after a report exposed statesponsored doping. This means no Russian athletes can be entered in September’s Paralympics.

Russia had three para dressage riders, Natalia Martyanova (pictured, left), Natalya Zhavoronkova and Marina Vinogradova.

Although para dressage was not directly named in the report and there is no suggestion that any of these riders were caught up in the scandal, the blanket ban means they cannot compete.

Natalia is Russia’s highestranked para dressage rider, currently 15th on the FEI individual rankings and 23rd in the world.

The McLaren report found widespread state-sponsored doping in Russian sport.

Following its release on 18 July, the International Olympic Committee decided against a blanket ban for all Russian athletes, instead allowing individual sporting federations to choose — provided athletes met strict criteria. This included never having been sanctioned for a positive drug test.

A British Paralympic Association spokesman said: “While we have real sympathy for those individual Russian Paralympians who train and compete clean, it is crucial for the integrity of our sport that those involved as well as the public feel confident all necessary measures are in place to tackle doping.” LE