ZURICH (Reuters) - A group of the world's leading national anti-doping organisations (NADOs) have called for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to be excluded from next year's Winter Games in Pyeongchang over alleged state-sponsored doping. In a joint statement issued on Thursday after a two-day meeting in Denver, the NADOs also criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for "continuing failure in its obligations to clean sport." "A country's sport leaders and organisations should not be given credentials to the Olympics when they intentionally violate the rules and rob clean athletes," said the statement. The NADO leaders said they were committed to providing "consistent criteria" to enable individual Russian athletes to compete as neutrals, as long as they had been subject to "robust anti-doping protocols." The statement was backed by anti-doping leaders from countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Source: The Star September 14, 2017 17:03 UTC