KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: The World Anti-Doping Agency has decided not to appeal against the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in its case against the RUSADA.

CAS ruled in favor of WADA in declaring the Russian anti-doing agency non-compliant with the governing code but cut the original punishment in half.

Russia’s name, flag and anthem have thus been banned from the next two Olympics and any world championships for the next two rather than four years.

The long-awaited ruling in December means only Russian athletes who are not implicated in doping or covering up positive tests can compete as neutrals at major sporting events including next year’s Tokyo Olympics, Beijing 2022 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

WADA confirmed its reluctant acceptance of the ruling.

An explanatory statement said: “WADA was disappointed that the CAS panel, based on its own assessment of proportionality, decided not to impose all the consequences that WADA sought (and not for the full four-year period).

“However, the grounds of appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal are limited to procedural matters such as jurisdiction, the composition of the panel and the right to be heard.

“The Swiss Federal Tribunal does not conduct a review of the merits and would therefore not interfere with the panel’s assessment of the proportionality of the consequences.

“As a result, and following unanimous advice from in-house and external legal counsels, WADA strongly believes an appeal would have served no useful purpose and decided to refrain from doing so.”

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