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Australia slam reduced Russia doping ban

3 minute read

Sport Integrity Australia chief David Sharpe has expressed disappointment at a ruling which halves Russia's ban after being accused of state-sponsored doping.

Australia has expressed disappointment on behalf of its athletes at Russia's doping ban being halved to two years.

Sport Integrity Australia chief executive David Sharpe says the reduced ban will leave Australian athletes questioning the world's anti-doping system.

"The reduction of sanctions imposed on Russia will leave Australian athletes asking many questions," Sharpe said in a statement on Friday.

"If these are the strongest sanctions for the type of conduct that has been displayed in this case, then the consequences for non-compliance in our global anti-doping system are not aligned with our stakeholder's expectations."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has halved the four-year ban proposed last year by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a landmark case that accused Russia of state-ordered tampering of a testing laboratory database in Moscow.

Sharpe said hundreds of individual athletes had received more severe sanctions than CAS' penalty on Russia.

"We all need to wait for the CAS decision and digest the reasons," he said.

"But at first glance it would appear that all major stakeholders will need to unite to strengthen our anti-doping system and ensure that there are real deterrents for serious non-compliance and any conduct designed to cover up that non-compliance.

"If this is the appropriate sanction under the current compliance rules then governments, the sport movement, national anti-doping organisations and athletes must all come together after the release of the full decision and immediately work to strengthen these rules."

The full CAS ruling was expected to be released within weeks.

Under the CAS decision, Russia will not be able to use its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years.

The decision also blocked Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years.

But Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year's Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, as well as world championships including soccer's 2022 World Cup in Qatar, if they are not implicated in doping or cover up positive tests.

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