A ban on Russian athletes competing in the Rio Paralympics was upheld on Tuesday, triggering anger in Moscow after the country lost an appeal against their exclusion over a vast, state-run doping program.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed an appeal filed by the Russian Paralympic Committee, which sought to overturn the Aug. 7 ban by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev denounced the doping charges as a “thick and very nasty cocktail,” saying that the Paralympic ban constituted a “cynical” attempt by rivals to remove strong competitors from the Games.
The IPC took the tough action after the release of a bombshell report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, detailing a drug program directed by government officials and affecting dozens of sports.
Citing evidence compiled by agency lead investigator Richard McLaren, the IPC said Russia’s disabled athletes had failed to comply with global anti-doping codes.
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based CAS said Russia in its appeal “did not file any evidence contradicting the facts on which the IPC decision was based.”
In a statement, the court said that it “confirmed” Russia’s ban from the Rio Paralympics, which run from Sept. 7 to Sept. 18.
However, Medvedev said on Facebook in Russian that the decision showed “a number of states and their political and sports establishments were looking for a traditional enemy and found it once again.”
Russian Paralympic Committee president Vladimir Lukin indicated the barred athletes would pursue their case further by filing individual complaints at the European Court of Human Rights.
However, IPC president Philip Craven said the decision “underlines our strong belief that doping has absolutely no place in Paralympic sport.”
The ruling was applauded by National Paralympic Committee Germany president Friedhelm Julius Beucher.
“The judgement is a sign of consistent zero-tolerance on doping,” he said.
The Paralympics ban was the latest blow to Russian sport, which has been condemned by a mountain of doping allegations in recent months. The country narrowly escaped an outright International Olympic Committee ban from the just-concluded Rio Games, but still saw dozens of its athletes barred, including almost the entire track and field team.
Russia continues to deny the findings of the McLaren report, including the involvement of the Russian Ministry of Sport and the Russian Federal Security Service, commonly known as the FSB, in doping fraud at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
While Lukin had sought to portray his athletes as independent from the Moscow government, the IPC said it did not believe that disabled Olympic hopefuls were untouched by the pervasive cheating in the country.
Craven said previously that Russia’s “thirst for glory at all costs has severely damaged the integrity and image of all sport.”
“Their medals over morals attitude disgusts me,” he added.
Dmitry Svishchev, who heads the Russian State Duma’s Sports and Physical Culture Committee, told reporters: “I really don’t like this decision. I think that it is baseless and cruel. The athletes against whom this decision was taken did not deserve this.”
The Paralympics, held every four years for athletes with disabilities, has taken place in various forms since 1948, but has grown in importance over the past 20 years. An estimated 250 Russian competitors had been slated to take part in Rio and many had continued training ahead of the CAS decision.
That included 19-year-old backstroke swimmer Alexander Makarov, who suffers from arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that limits the limbs’ movements.
He last week told reporters that he was trying “not to think” about being barred from Rio, as he churned through 50 laps during a morning training session outside Moscow.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but