MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2019) Russian diver and 2012 Olympic Games gold medalist, Ilya Zakharov, will not contest the International Federation for Aquatic sports Worldwide's (FINA) earlier decision to suspend the swimmer and will quit the sport, Alexey Vlasenko, president of Russia's diving federation, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, FINA announced that Zakharov was suspended from aquatics due to missing his doping tests for the past 18 months.
"Ilya does not plan to contest the decision. He has never submitted a positive doping test over his entire career and never had any problems with doping agencies. This is just a question of missing [the tests] and discipline. He will miss the Olympics, but it was already unlikely that he would participate as he has had two surgeries on his knees and is recuperating. We spoke, he will quit his career," Vlasenko said.
