World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Excludes Russia from Competitions

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has decided to exclude Russia from global competitions for the next four years due to data manipulation and alleged doping cases involving their athletes.

As a result, Russia will not be able to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, and the Qatar 2022 World Cup. However, they may still compete in the 2020 Euro Cup as one of the host cities is Saint Petersburg.

The sanction is a result of falsifying data related to athletes' drug tests provided to the agency. Athletes who wish to participate in an event will have to prove that they are not involved in any manipulation of their samples.

It is worth mentioning that Russia has 21 days to appeal the unanimous decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), or the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).