Russia has hit back and sent through an appeal against the 4-year ban issue to them by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from all major sporting events.
If the appeal fails the ban will see Russia missing out on Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Paralympics and the 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar.
Russia was issued the 4-year ban on 9 December after the Russian Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA) was deemed not to have complied with directives given by WADA in January to hand over all data from their testing laboratories.
Under the ban, any Russian athletes that proved not to be involved in the controversial doping scandal would only be allowed to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games under a neutral flag.
The Russian football team will be allowed to compete in the European qualifying stages of the 2022 World Cup under the Russian flag but should they qualify, they will have to change the team name and flag so as not to include “Russia” or the Russian flag.
RUSADA general director Yury Ganus sent through the appeal today stating:
“Rusada herewith disputes the notice in its entirety, including Wada’s assertion of non-compliance, the (alleged) facts on which such assertion is based, as well as the sanctions and reinstatement conditions set out in the notice, all of which are unfounded.”
The appeal means that the matter will now be brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
