Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
Sport
Steve Larkin

Australia slam reduced Russia doping ban

Sport Integrity Australia chief David Sharpe is unhappy with Russia's doping ban being halved. (AAP)

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.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.