Russia urges IOC to invite 15 of its athletes to PyeongChang Winter Olympics

Russia pleaded to the International Olympics Committee to allow 15 of its athletes to compete at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned their lifetime bans for anti-doping violations at Sochi 2014.Park Ji-won has more. The Russian Olympic Committee on Thursday urged the International Olympic Committee to allow 15 of its athletes,... whose doping allegations were recently cleared in a tribunal,... to compete at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. "This decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport means the charges of violating anti-doping rules have been lifted from Russian athletes. So the IOC has to go back to considering the invitation of these athletes to take part in the Olympic Games." This move comes, as the Court of Arbitration for Sport said Thursday that the sanctions against 28 out of 39 Russian athletes for charges of anti-doping violations have been annulled,... as the body had found insufficient evidence that the athletes were guilty.The charges against the other 11 athletes were upheld. "This does not mean that these 28 athletes are declared innocent but in their case due to insufficient evidence the appeals are upheld, the sanctions annulled and their individual results achieved in Sochi 2014 are reinstated." Regarding the tribunal's ruling, the IOC said in a statement that it welcomes the confirmation of the anti-doping violations for 11 Russian athletes, as it clearly shows the state-sponsored systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rule back in 2014. However, it said it regretted that the panel did not acknowledge the violations for the other 28 cases, expressing concerns for the future fight against doping. The IOC added that it will closely analyze the decisions,... and mentioned a possibility of appealing to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.Park Ji-won, Arirang News.