(Reuters) - Russia's anti-doping body RUSADA said on Wednesday that seven athletes in athletics and weightlifting have been given four-year bans for violating the country's anti-doping rules, with another being suspended for two years.
Shot putter Yana Mikhailova's two-year ban has been backdated to July 12 of this year, while Natalia Polyakova, Tatyana Kachegina and Sergey Kotov have all received four-year sanctions from the All-Russian Athletics Federation.
Weightlifters Valeriy Temnik, Roman Rednikin, Sergey Oreshnikov and Fatima Umakhanova have all been given four-year bans from their governing body, ruling them out of the world championships which begin in Turkemenistan on Thursday.
Russian media said that Temnik and Umakhanova tested positive for banned substances while Rednikin and Oreshnikov were sanctioned for failing to appear at doping tests.
RUSADA was last month reinstated by the World Anti-Doping Agency following its suspension in November 2015 for allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Wednesday's announcement follows a four-year ban for powerlifter Anastasia Feofanova last week, backdated to begin on June 21 this year.
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge; Editing by Martyn Herman)
