This Article is From Dec 09, 2016

Russia Denies State Doping Programme In Sports After Fresh Revelations

Russia Denies State Doping Programme In Sports After Fresh Revelations

Russian athletes were banned from the Rio Games this summer (File Photo)

Moscow: Russia denied it was running any state-sponsored doping schemes after fresh revelations from the McLaren report on Friday of an "institutional conspiracy" by Moscow to cheat.

"The Russian sports ministry with full responsibility states there are no government programmes to support doping in sport," the ministry said in a statement, adding that it "will continue the fight against doping with zero tolerance".

Investigator Richard McLaren said in a new report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that more than 1,000 Russian athletes in about 30 sports took part in a plan involving Moscow sports ministry officials to use banned drugs at the Sochi and London Olympics and other global events.  

The sports ministry said it would "carefully study the information contained in the report with the aim of coming up with a constructive position".

The allegations are the latest body blow to Russian sport, which is still trying to shrug off the damage from an earlier report by McLaren that accused it of state-run doping and the exclusion last year of its track and field athletes from international competition.

Russian athletes were also banned from the Rio Games this summer.

Moscow has consistently denied the existence of any government-run scheme to cheat its way to medal glory and says it is doing all it can to reform its doping control system in a bid to crack down on drug use.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
.