World anti-doping body refuses to lift Russia suspension

WADA head-office in Montreal, Canada (Reuters)

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) maintained its suspension of Russia on Thursday, raising the spectre of a possible ban from February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

WADA's Foundation Board, meeting in Seoul, came to the decision after the agency's Compliance Review Committee recommended that Russia's anti-doping body, RUSADA, "should not be reinstated".

The decision had been expected after Russia refused to admit running a state-sponsored doping system, as detailed in an explosive report for WADA by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide whether Russia can compete in Pyeongchang at an executive board meeting next month in Lausanne, where it will hear the results of two investigations into Russian doping.

Russia was declared "non-compliant" by WADA after the McLaren report alleged institutionalised doping from 2011 to 2015, culminating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi -- where the hosts topped the medals table.

Russia's secret service and sports ministry were accused of orchestrating an elaborate plot that included using a "mousehole" to switch dirty samples at the doping laboratory in the Black Sea resort.