Russia doping scandal: PM Dmitry Medvedev condemns Paralympics ban, calls ruling 'cynical'

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to uphold a ban on Russia’s participation in next month’s Rio Paralympics was “cynical” and a blow to all disabled people. [caption id=“attachment_157468” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Russia PM Dmitri Medvedev thinks the CAS’s actions on the doping scandal are cynical. Reuters[/caption] Earlier on Tuesday Russia lost an appeal against its ban from the Paralympics because of a state-sponsored doping programme. “The story with Russian doping is a thick and very disgusting cocktail with 80 percent politics and 20 percent doping proper”, Medvedev said on his Facebook page. “In some countries they find doping very quickly, in others never. … This is complete double standards,” he added. Sports minister Vitaly Mutko, a central figure in the McLaren report, blasted the CAS decision as “more political than legal.” “The decision is not in the legal domain,” TASS news agency quoted Mutko as saying. “There was no reason for rejection but it happened.” However IPC President Philip Craven said the decision “underlines our strong belief that doping has absolutely no place in Paralympic sport, and further improves our ability to ensure fair competition and a level playing field for all Para athletes around the world.” The decision was applauded by the president of Germany’s National Paralympic Committee, Friedhelm Julius Beucher. “The judgement is a sign of consistent zero-tolerance on doping,” he said. “Exclusions are always tragic, but there are rules in sport and anyone who doesn’t follow them gets shown a red card,” he added.