The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday cut Russia's ban from participation in global sports from four years to two years, but ruled that Russia will not be able to enter teams or even use its name or flag at the next two Olympics, AP reports.
Why it matters: Russia has been accused by anti-doping regulators of running of one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in the history of international sports, which at its peak was alleged to involve state authorities tampering with testing samples.
The state of play: Some Russian athletes and teams will still be able to participate with neutral uniforms if they can prove that they were not involved in the doping scheme, which was revealed when the director of the country's anti-doping laboratory blew the whistle on the scandal in a 2017 documentary.
The big picture: The Russian government launched a full-fledged legal assault on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), arguing that it had exceeded reasonable limits with its powers, according to the New York Times.
- A Russian hacking group is believed to have spearheaded cyberattacks against WADA in retaliation for the near-national ban of the country's Olympic team.
- The ban enforced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday will apply to the rescheduled Tokyo Games next summer, the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and other major global sporting events.
