IPC conceals names of suspected Russian athletes

Moscow, Jan 31 (IANS) The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission have so far failed to give names of the athletes suspected of violating anti-doping rules to the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), IPC Athletes' Council member Mikhail Terentyev has said.

"On Sunday (January 29) the IPC Governing Board unanimously turned down a request from the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) for it to enter athletes into upcoming qualification events for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games while it remains suspended," the IPC said in a statement on Monday.

WADA Independent Commission "does not give the names of the athletes either to the Russian Paralympic Committee or to WADA. Some violations from the state or state agencies are mentioned, but no concrete names of the athletes who could get a possibility to defend themselves in the international legal framework are given," Terentyev said on Monday.

"This means that the present line-up of the governing board is incapable of making decisions basing on common sense," he added.

Initially, 35 Russian athletes were suspected of doping violations, as WADA Independent Commission chief Canadian Professor Richard McLaren claimed that their doping samples were tampered with in the period between 2011 and 2015.

However, it turned out later that 15 athletes from the list were from other countries.

"The IPC's decision does not necessarily close the door on possible Russian participation at next year's Games however," the IPC said.

"Should the RPC continue to cooperate fully with the IPC Taskforce and meet the reinstatement criteria in full before Pyeongchang 2018 then the IPC Governing Board will lift its suspension. In doing so it may then be possible for the RPC to enter athletes into qualification events or alternatively apply to the IPC for either bipartite or returned slots from NPCs in order for eligible athletes to compete at the Games."