WADA Lifts Russia Ban Amid Opposition

The World Anti-Doping Agency executive committee has voted to lift the ban on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

WADA President Craig Reedie has revealed that a “great majority” of votes were in favor of Russia being reinstated, sportingnews.com reported.

RUSADA was suspended by WADA in November 2015 in the wake of accusations of state-sponsored doping. Despite widespread opposition to the prospect of the nation being deemed compliant once again, it was confirmed by WADA following a meeting on Thursday.

“Today, the great majority of WADA’s Executive Committee decided to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the code [of conduct] subject to strict conditions, upon recommendation by the agency’s independent Compliance Review Committee and in accordance with an agreed process,” Reedie said in a statement.

“This decision provides a clear timeline by which WADA must be given access to the former Moscow laboratory data and samples with a clear commitment by the ExCo that should this timeline not be met, it would support the CRC’s recommendation to reinstate non-compliance.”

WADA and RUSADA agreed to a detailed “Roadmap to Compliance” in January 2017 with the aim of getting Russia readmitted.