WADA report scrutinised by Russian Investigative Committee

The report of the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chaired by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren, is being scrutinised by the Russian Investigative Committee (IC), Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Friday.

"Our current task is to calmly work in the legal framework. McLaren's report was sent to IC, they are scrutinising it. The Ministry of Sports has set up a special commission that investigates circumstances mentioned in the report. I hope experts will provide all facts to us. If they are convincing, measures will be taken by the end of November," Mutko said.

WADA Independent Commission released a report on July 18 on the results of its probe into the accusations of doping and manipulation of tests by Russian athletes and officials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The commission claimed it had found evidence that Russia's Sports Ministry and the Center for the Training of Russian National Teams and the Federal Security Service (FSB) supported the doping programme in Russian sports.

Following the WADA report, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held a meeting of its executive board to discuss a possible blanket ban of Russian athletes at the Rio Olympics. The IOC executive committee decided not to ban the Russian team.

Individual decisions on Russian athletes will be taken by relevant international federations.

"Many details have not been taken into consideration regarding the banning of Russian athletes from the Olympics based on McLaren's list. We see that the list is not faultless and at times unsubstantiated. This is the case in rowing and some other sports. I am grateful to the majority of our sports federations that meticulously defended our athletes' rights," he said.

"Over the past years, a colossal job has been done in Russia to create an anti-doping system, we have built a lab, enacted laws," the sports minister continued.

"A total of 15,000 athletes have been tested yearly, about 200 have been disqualified for violations."

The 31st Summer Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5 through 21.

--IANS

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