19 countries' anti-doping agencies demand sports ban on Russia

Moscow, Jan 11: The National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADO) of 19 countries have demanded a ban on Russian athletes from all international sports competitions as well as to strip the country of the right to host global tournaments.

The proposal comes in the wake of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission's report about the allegedly mass doping abuse and manipulations in Russian sports, reports Tass.

"Following the devastating evidence of wide-spread systemic corruption exposed by the report, leaders from 19 National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) came together for a special summit, hosted by Sport Ireland, with hopes to restore the faith of clean athletes and to ensure that the integrity of sport is never again brought into such disrepute," a statement from NADOs said on Tuesday.

The document was signed by anti-doping leaders of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

"With new, irrefutable evidence of Russia's institutionalised doping system uncovered by McLaren and his team, the leadership group has called for the exclusion of Russian sport organisations from all international competition until the sport and anti-doping systems in Russia are brought into full compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code," the statement added.

"The leaders (of NADOs) have also called for IFs (International Federations) and other major event organisers to remove all international competitions currently set to take place in Russia, as well as a moratorium on awarding any new competitions to the country."

According to the WADA report, delivered early last month in London by its independent commission and its chairman, Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren, over 1,000 Russian athletes competing in summer, winter and Paralympic sports could have been involved in the manipulations system to conceal positive doping tests.

McLaren's report claimed in particular that doping samples of 12 Russian medallists of 2014 Winter Games in Sochi had been tampered with. In addition, doping tests of two more Russian athletes, who won four gold medals of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi had been falsified as well.

The report did not mention particular names and McLaren later said that the decision against making public the names of athletes, who are allegedly guilty of doping abuse, was made in respect to their private life, and, moreover, it should be done by international sports federations and not him personally.