Olympics: More Russians Banned In Mounting Rio Toll

Olympics: More Russians banned in mounting Rio toll

LAUSANNE,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th july,2016) - Ninteen more Russian rowers were banned from the Olympics on Tuesday, taking the toll of the nation's athletes suspended from Rio to 108 after explosive revelations of state-run doping across Russian sport. As the list of supsended Russians grew, the International Olympic Commitee continued to face fierce criticism for failing to ban Russia outright. Germany's Olympic discus champion Robert Harting launched a savage verbal attack on IOC president Thomas Bach, calling his compatriot "part of the doping system not the anti-doping system". Bach fired back that the decision to leave individual sports federations to decide which Russians could compete "respects the right of every clean athlete around the world.

" Bach noting that would-be Russian Olympians must clear "the highest hurdles" to be green-lighted for the Games, which start on August 5. Five canoeists and two modern pentathletes were barred, with the number of Russians banned since Sunday standing at 41. They are in addition to 67 track and field athletes already banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). While there was good news for Russian athletes competing in judo, equestrian, tennis and shooting, World Rowing (FISA) came down hard, banning 22 of Russia's 28 rowers.