(Reuters) – Russian wrestlers Dariya Leksina, Aleksey Shchekov and Elena Vostrikova were provisionally suspended on Thursday after tests showed they had used prohibited substances, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said.
Leksina competes in the women’s 48kg division, while Vostrikova takes part in the women’s 50kg weight class. Shchekov is a male wrestler.
The ITA said it asserted the anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) against the trio based on data retrieved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from the Moscow laboratory.
“The ITA reports that it has asserted ADRVs against the following Russian wrestlers under Article 2.2 (Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method) of the UWW Anti-Doping Rules (UWW ADR),” a statement read.
“The athletes have been informed of the cases and have been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter.”
The ITA said the assertions were based on the investigations conducted by WADA’s Intelligence and Investigation Department (WADA I&I) and Professor Richard McLaren into allegations of systemic doping practices in Russian sport as well as Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) data retrieved by WADA I&I over time.
“In particular, these investigations uncovered LIMS data indicative of the presence of banned substances in samples provided by the athletes in 2012,” the statement added.
On Wednesday, the ITA asserted ADRVs against six Russian weightlifters and prosecuted Russian weightlifter Feliks Khalibekov for the use of prohibited substances.
Khalibekov, who won the silver medal overall at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships, was found to have used prohibited substances in October 2020.
“On 27 December 2021, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Hearing Panel issued a decision imposing a period of Ineligibility of 2 years from 7 October 2020 to 7 October 2022 and disqualification of all competitive results from 21 June 2012 to 21 June 2016,” the ITA said.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
