(UTV|COLOMBO) – Thirty-two Russian athletes have appealed against their exclusion from this month’s Winter Olympics.
They include those who had their life bans lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) last week.
A hearing is set to take place on Wednesday, two days before the Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited 169 Russians to compete as independent athletes in Pyeongchang after their country was banned over the Sochi doping scandal.
Forty-three Russians were banned for life from the Olympics following the conclusion of an IOC investigation into evidence of state-sponsored Russian doping at their home Games in 2014.
On Thursday, Cas overturned the suspensions of 28 of those, and partially upheld 11 other appeals.
The IOC then turned down a request for 13 of the 28 – and two coaches – to compete.
A special IOC panel “agreed the decision of the Cas had not lifted the suspicion of doping”.
IOC president Thomas Bach said: “The absence of sanctions by Cas does not mean that you are entitled to receive an invitation from the IOC because receiving this invitation is a privilege of clean Russian athletes.”
However, 32 athletes are taking issue with that stance.
Among them are multiple Olympic champion speed skater Viktor Ahn and biathlon gold medallist Anton Shipulin. Neither athlete has previously served a doping ban.
Courtesy: BBC Sport
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