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Russia's Sports Minister Denies Doping Cases in Cycling

by Julia Samuel on Feb 9 2016 4:31 PM

Russia
Despite several doping cases in the recent past, Russia’s sports minister denied there were "problems of any kind" in Russian cycling.
"I fully trust the athletes and trainers," said, Sports minister Vitaly Mutko referring to the national cycling team. "I don’t see problems of any kind here."

Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA announced that track cyclist Yelena Brezhniva, a two-time European champion in the team sprint, had received a four-year suspension for doping. Her suspension was followed by that of Katusha rider Eduard Vorganov, a former Russian road race champion.

Katusha suspended Vorganov from all team activities after he tested positive for meldonium, a substance that was only added to the banned list.

The 33-year-old became the second Katusha rider to fail a drugs test in 12 months after Italy’s Luca Paolini tested positive for cocaine on the 2015 Tour de France.

Russia has vowed to fight doping after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released a report in 2015 alleging state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in the country’s athletics.

Russian officials initially dismissed the findings of the WADA report as groundless, but acted upon some of its recommendations after President Vladimir Putin said the country "must do everything" to fight doping.

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The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) in November 2015 provisionally suspended Russia over the report, sparking fears that Russian track and field stars could be sidelined from this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.



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Source-Medindia


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