Latest news with #sportsban
Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Russia's luge federation to appeal 2026 Winter Games ban
The International Olympic Committee said in May that Russian teams remained banned from next year's Games. (EPA Images pic) TAMPERE : The Russian Luge Federation (FSSR) said it will take legal action over a decision by the sport's global governing body to bar the country's athletes from the qualifying process for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The International Luge Federation voted at its congress in Tampere, Finland last month to extend an existing exclusion for Russian athletes from its competitions. It also voted to not authorise a programme for neutral Russian athletes. The FSSR said in a statement on Monday it had notified the governing body of its intention to challenge the decision in international courts. The FSSR told Russian news agency TASS it would appeal to the court of arbitration for sport. 'We will defend the rights of our athletes to participate in the Olympic Games 2026,' FSSR president Natalia Gart said. The FIL did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The International Olympic Committee said in May that Russian teams remained banned from next year's Games as part of sanctions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Four Russian figure skaters in men's and women's singles have been approved by the International Skating Union to try to qualify for the 2026 Olympics as neutral athletes.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tara Moore, British tennis player, handed four-year doping ban
British tennis player Tara Moore has been handed a four-year anti-doping sanction despite previously being cleared of any wrongdoing. Moore, 32, was provisionally suspended after testing positive for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone following a tournament in Colombia in April 2022. Advertisement An independent tribunal 19 months later ruled that Moore bore no fault or negligence in December 2023 before the The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed that decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS on Tuesday confirmed it has ruled in the ITIA's favour, upholding its appeal, dismissing a counter-appeal from Moore and imposing on her a four-year ban from the sport, minus time previously served under the provisional suspension. Moore, previously Britain's No. 1-ranked doubles player, will now not be eligible to play again until the beginning of the 2028 season. ITIA chief executive officer Karen Moorhouse said: 'For the ITIA, every case is considered according to the individual facts and circumstances. Advertisement 'Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly. In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today's ruling is consistent with this position. 'We understand that players and their support teams may have questions about this decision, and we will answer these fully once we have reviewed the details of the ruling.' Moore recorded an adverse analytical finding (AAF) from a sample collected during the Copa Colsanitas tournament in Bogotá in April 2022. She argued that the presence of boldenone and nandrolone in her sample must have been caused by the consumption of beef and/or pork while in Colombia. Advertisement CAS revealed in publishing the verdict on Tuesday that the ITIA filed an appeal against the tribunal's ruling in January of this year before the appeals were heard in March. 'After reviewing the scientific and legal evidence, the majority of the CAS Panel considered that the player did not succeed in proving that the concentration of nandrolone in her sample was consistent with the ingestion of contaminated meat,' the Court said in a media release publicising the verdict. 'The Panel concluded that Ms Moore failed to establish that the ADRV (anti-doping rule violation) was not intentional. The appeal by the ITIA is therefore upheld and the decision rendered by the independent tribunal is set aside. The cross-appeal filed by Ms Moore was declared inadmissible.' Doping has been a highly contentious issue for the sport in recent months following the positive tests and subsequent bans served by men's world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and four-time French Open women's champion Iga Świątek. Both players went on to win their respective singles titles at Wimbledon last weekend. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Tennis, Women's Tennis 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SCOTUS to take up West Virginia's transgender athlete ban
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear West Virginia vs. B.P.J. during its fall term, a challenge to West Virginia's ban on transgender athletes. The ban was challenged by Becky Pepper-Jackson (pictured) a teenage transgender student athlete from West Virginia. (Billy Wolfe | ACLU photo) The Supreme Court of the United States will take up a challenge of a West Virginia law prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in school sports in a case that could decide the legality of other such bans around the country. The high court is expected to hear West Virginia vs. B.P.J. during its fall term. The lawsuit was brought by the mother of Bridgeport student athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson against the West Virginia Board of Education. At the time the federal lawsuit was filed in 2021 Pepper-Jackson was an 11-year-old student athlete who wanted to run for her middle school's cross country team but was prohibited from doing so. The lawsuit alleges the state's 2021 Save Women's Sports Act, signed by former Gov. Jim Justice, is unconstitutional. In a ruling last year, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the state from enforcing the ban, finding the law violated Pepper-Jackson's rights. Pepper-Jackson, a freshman during the last school year, qualified to participate in two events during the West Virginia High School State Track & Field Championships in May, according to reporting by West Virginia MetroNews. Since 2020, 27 states have banned transgender youth from playing school sports, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The Supreme Court will also take up a lawsuit challenging Idaho's transgender athlete ban. State attorney general J.B. McCuskey celebrated the news that the high court would take up the case, saying that 'female athletes in West Virginia will have their voices heard.' 'The people of West Virginia know that it's unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that's why we passed this commonsense law preserving women's sports for women,' McCuskey said. 'We are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the Save Women's Sports Act because it complies with the U.S. Constitution and complies with Title IX. And most importantly: it protects women and girls by ensuring the playing field is safe and fair.' Pepper-Jackson is represented by the ACLU, Lambda Legal and Cooley LLP. In a statement, Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, said that school athletic programs should be accessible to everyone regardless of sex and transgender status. 'Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers do — to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork and to simply have fun with their friends,' he said. 'Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.' In a statement Thursday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who represented the state in the case in his prior role as attorney general, said he is pleased to hear the high court will take up the case. 'I am optimistic that after hearing the case, the Supreme Court will restore sanity to athletics and allow West Virginia to enforce its commonsense law that prevents boys from competing in girl's sports,' Morrisey said. This story was originally published by West Virginia Watch. Like Maine Morning Star, West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@ SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
CTV News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Russian athletes excluded from luge at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics
Viktoriia Demchenko of Russia competes during the women's race at the Luge World Cup, a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics, at the Yanqing National Sliding Center in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Russian luge athletes will be banned from competing at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics even as individuals with neutral status, the sliding sport's governing body decided Wednesday. The International Luge Federation has kept Russian athletes from competing in major international luge events — such as World Cups and world championships — since the 2021-22 season in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. At a meeting of the FIL congress in Tampere, Finland, officials voted 24-7, with one invalid ballot, to extend that ban that was first put in place in 2022 and extended again in 2024. A second vote then took place on the notion of letting Russian sliders try to compete under a neutral flag at the upcoming Olympics; that was defeated 24-8. 'The Congress has made its position clear,' FIL president Einars Fogelis said. 'This outcome reflects our collective responsibility to uphold fair and safe competition. We fully respect the diversity of views within our community, especially from our athletes.' The Milan-Cortina Olympics open on Feb. 6. It's not clear if the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation will follow luge's lead. Russian sliders have also not competed in those sports at the top international levels since the end of the 2021-22 season. Also unclear: if any Russian sleds would have had a legitimate hope of qualifying even if they were allowed to try. Without being on the circuits in more than three years, it's impossible to assess which athletes would be competitive enough to secure Olympic bids. There were 28 sliders from Russia — 10 in luge, six in skeleton and 12 in bobsled — at the 2022 Beijing Games, though they competed under the Russian Olympic Committee flag and not the actual Russian flag. That was part of the sanctions levied against Russia for the state-sponsored doping scandal that overshadowed the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Beijing Games closed four days before the attack on Ukraine started, and Russian athlete Tatyana Ivanova won a bronze medal in women's singles luge. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Russia and military ally Belarus were excluded from team sports but athletes in individual sports could apply for neutral status to compete. A total of 32 accepted invitations from the International Olympic Committee after passing eligibility tests that included not publicly supporting the war and not having ties to military and state security agencies. The FIL reviewed the results of an anonymous polling of luge athletes who were surveyed about the prospect of letting Russian athletes resume sliding. It said the survey 'revealed a broad range of concerns and opinions regarding safety, Olympic quotas, anti-doping compliance, and fairness.' 'Athletes hold a wide range of views,' FIL athletes' commission chair Leon Felderer said. 'There are many concerns and arguments on both sides.' ___ Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this story.
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Russian athletes excluded from luge at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics
Russian luge athletes will be banned from competing at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics even as individuals with neutral status, the sliding sport's governing body decided Wednesday. The International Luge Federation has kept Russian athletes from competing in major international luge events — such as World Cups and world championships — since the 2021-22 season in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war. At a meeting of the FIL congress in Tampere, Finland, officials voted 24-7, with one invalid ballot, to extend that ban that was first put in place in 2022 and extended again in 2024. A second vote then took place on the notion of letting Russian sliders try to compete under a neutral flag at the upcoming Olympics; that was defeated 24-8. 'The Congress has made its position clear,' FIL president Einars Fogelis said. 'This outcome reflects our collective responsibility to uphold fair and safe competition. We fully respect the diversity of views within our community, especially from our athletes.' The Milan-Cortina Olympics open on Feb. 6. It's not clear if the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation will follow luge's lead. Russian sliders have also not competed in those sports at the top international levels since the end of the 2021-22 season. Also unclear: if any Russian sleds would have had a legitimate hope of qualifying even if they were allowed to try. Without being on the circuits in more than three years, it's impossible to assess which athletes would be competitive enough to secure Olympic bids. There were 28 sliders from Russia — 10 in luge, six in skeleton and 12 in bobsled — at the 2022 Beijing Games, though they competed under the Russian Olympic Committee flag and not the actual Russian flag. That was part of the sanctions levied against Russia for the state-sponsored doping scandal that overshadowed the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Beijing Games closed four days before the attack on Ukraine started, and Russian athlete Tatyana Ivanova won a bronze medal in women's singles luge. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Russia and military ally Belarus were excluded from team sports but athletes in individual sports could apply for neutral status to compete. A total of 32 accepted invitations from the International Olympic Committee after passing eligibility tests that included not publicly supporting the war and not having ties to military and state security agencies. The FIL reviewed the results of an anonymous polling of luge athletes who were surveyed about the prospect of letting Russian athletes resume sliding. It said the survey 'revealed a broad range of concerns and opinions regarding safety, Olympic quotas, anti-doping compliance, and fairness.' 'Athletes hold a wide range of views,' FIL athletes' commission chair Leon Felderer said. 'There are many concerns and arguments on both sides.' ___ AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this story. ___
