Ruling on Russian doping case to be announced Thursday

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The ruling on whether Russia can keep its name and flag for the Olympics will be announced on Thursday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Wednesday that three of its arbitrators held a four-day hearing last month in the dispute between the World Anti-Doping Agency and its Russian affiliate, known as RUSADA.

WADA’s requested punishments include a ban on Russia’s flag, anthem and team name at next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Games, and other major sporting events like the World Cup.

The case centres on a database from the Moscow testing laboratory that was long sealed by Russian state authorities before it was handed over to WADA investigators last year. WADA found that data had been deleted, altered and added.

That made it much harder to make charges stick against individual athletes believed to have been protected by a Russian doping coverup scheme.

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