WADA seeks four-year Russia ban over false doping data

A key World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) panel has recommended Russia be barred from all sporting competition for four years after accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory data handed over to investigators, the global anti-doping watchdog said on Monday.

In a bombshell statement, WADA's Compliance Review Committee (CRC) called for the sanctions, which would see Russia banned from next year's Tokyo Olympics, to be approved at a meeting in Paris on December 9.

The WADA committee has also recommended Russia be barred from staging or bidding for major international sporting events for a four-year period -- potentially placing Saint Petersburg's status as one of the venues for the Euro 2020 football tournament in jeopardy.

If the sanctions are approved by WADA's Executive Committee, Russia can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The proposed punishments followed what WADA investigators described as "an extremely serious" case of non-compliance "with several aggravating features."
- 'Incomplete, inauthentic' -
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However WADA said in its statement on Monday that the data handed over was beset with problems, describing it as "neither complete nor fully authentic."