MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2021) The decisions made by the World Athletics Council regarding Russian athletes' participation in major sporting events in 2022 are encouraging, Irina Privalova, the acting president of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the World Athletics Council doubled the quota of Russian athletes allowed to participate under neutral status in the 2022 World Cup and other major competitions, raising it from 10 to over 20. Rune Andersen, head of the Russian Taskforce charged with overseeing the reinstatement of the RusAF, said there was "guarded optimism" regarding the federation's progress toward meeting its goals.
However, Andersen noted several shortcomings in the implementation of the plan and called for additional investigations into Russian coaches who worked with doping athletes.
"It is encouraging that the World Athletics Council noted the progress of the RusAF work, upheld our neutral status for 2022, allowed veteran athletes to participate in competitions and doubled the representation of Russians at major international competitions," Privalova said.
At the same time, the RusAF head stressed that athletes and coaches identified in Andersen's report threaten with their actions the reinstatement of the federation and pledged to prevent further violations. She also reaffirmed the federation's commitment to the implementation of the strategic plan.
In November 2015, RusAF was temporarily stripped of its membership in World Athletics (then � IAAF) and has not yet been reinstated.
