Sports News of Wednesday, 22 January 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Russia names new Sports Minister to fight doping scandal

Oleg Matytsin Oleg Matytsin

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has appointed a new sports minister on Tuesday due to the cabinet reshuffle.

Putin replaced sports minister Pavel Kolobkov and his predecessor from his cabinet following the ongoing doping scandal that has seen the country banned from this summer's Olympics.

Kolobkov has been replaced by Oleg Matytsin, a sports administrator who heads a student sporting federation and will be expected to fight the doping scandal.

The 55-year-old, who also serves on the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Olympic education commission, will also be at the heart of Russia's efforts to fight a four-year ban from top international sporting events that Moscow has decried as too harsh.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last month barred Russians from competing under their flag at top international sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 soccer World Cup, for a four-year period after it found that Moscow had provided it with doctored laboratory data.

Russia's appeal against the sanctions, which also bar it from hosting or bidding for a string of major sporting events, will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Russia was banned by the IOC from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea as punishment for a state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The IOC, however, chose not to ban all Russian athletes from the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a WADA-commissioned report revealed a state-backed doping programme across many sports.

Russia has denied the existence of state-sponsored doping in the country but has acknowledged shortcomings in its enforcement of anti-doping regulations. [Reuters]