MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2019) Russian snowboarder Nikita Avtaneev, who is the 2019 Universiade champion in halfpipe, was banned from competition for two years by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) for violating anti-doping rules, after he failed multiple times to report his whereabouts, Natalya Podorovskaya, first vice president of the Russian Snowboard Federation, told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"The RUSADA Disciplinary Commission admitted that Nikita Avtaneev had violated Cause 4.3 of the anti-doping rule 'Failure to provide information on whereabouts.' The decision of the commission was made on October 29. We were promised to be given [notice of] this official decision within a month, but as of today, we still have no [notice] ... We only have a RUSADA notice that there were hearings and Avtaneev was suspended for two years," Podorovskaya said over the phone.
Avtaneev took 24 doping tests during his career, she added, all of which were negative.
The federation will appeal the decision in the Russian sports Arbitration, the official said, and the suspension, if it remains in place, will ban the athlete from the 2022 Olympics qualifiers.
