Six Russian weightlifters including Olympic bronze medalist Ruslan Albegov have received bans based on analysis of data from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory which was at the center of a years-long cover-up scheme. The International Weightlifting Federation said the six athletes were found guilty by a disciplinary panel based on databases retrieved from the Moscow lab, without providing details of the individual cases. The World Anti-Doping Agency has sorted through the vast data archive to identify cases where doping was covered up in Russia in previous years. All received four-year bans except for Sheyko, who was banned for six years, and Lapikov, who was banned for eight. The starts of the bans were all backdated to 2017 or 2018, reflecting the lengthy investigation process.

Source: The Hindu October 08, 2020 16:41 UTC