Russian Athletics Asks World Athletics To Delay Reinstatement, Says Unable To Pay Fine Yet

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2020) The Presidium of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) has sent an official appeal to World Athletics (WA) Council, asking it to delay the decision on RusAF's reinstatement in WA, saying that it is unable to pay multi-million-dollar fine yet, and continues searching for money.

"Before July 1, external assistance for the payment of the fine, which RusAF was counting on, did not arrive, and the federation was unable to pay the required amounts. At the moment, RusAF does not have such amount of money, we continue searching for funds and are confident that we will be able to make progress on this issue over time," RusAF said.

It asked the World Athletics Council to postpone the decision on RusAF's status, taking into account the work already done and serious intentions to continue this work.

"We sincerely believe that the true goal of WA is to cleanse world sports (including Russian) from doping, to promote the ideals of clean sports and the development of athletics, and not financial sanctions," the statement says.

Earlier, RusAF Presidium decided to start a new round of negotiations with World Athletics to restore the organization's membership. On Monday, the first meeting of the Commission for the restoration of RusAF membership in World Athletics took place. The meeting of World Athletics Council, which may impose new sanctions against RusAF, will take place on July 29-30. According to RusAF, World Athletics Council may decide to completely ban Russian athletes from participating in international competitions and recommend that the Congress completely exclude RusAF from World Athletics.