Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Tuesday that he was "prepared to resign over a raging doping scandal in his country" which could cost more Russian athletes their places at the Rio Olympics after "tens" more cases of cheating were exposed in wrestling, according to Jack Stubbs of REUTERS. Russian wrestlers "may now join the country's track-and-field athletes in being barred from competing at the Games in August," after an internal Russian Wrestling Federation (WFR) investigation "uncovered multiple doping cases," WFR President Mikhail Mamiashvili said. The disclosure came a day after four Russian athletes "were exposed as having tested positive for the banned drug meldonium." Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Mutko would remain in his position "despite the scandal." Mutko later said, however, that he was "prepared to end his eight years in the job if asked to do so." Mutko: "The country has a leadership who take these decisions. When I see that the matter concerns me, I will leave my post." Mamiashvili said two male wrestlers, 2014 world championship silver medalist Evgeny Saleev and 2015 World Cup silver medalist Sergei Semenov, had been caught using meldonium. But he said the sport's doping problem "was widespread." Mamiashvili: "There are tens of positive tests in the team, everyone is in a bad condition psychologically." No female Russia wrestlers "have tested positive for meldonium" (REUTERS, 3/22).
FINAL RULING: REUTERS' Ian Ransom reported the Court of Arbitration for Sport will make a final ruling this week on "selective" doping bans handed out to six Russian athletes, including four Olympic champions. CAS said in a statement it expected to issue decisions on the six cases by Thursday. The IAAF appealed to CAS over the punishments in March last year, however, saying it disagreed with the "selective" disqualification of results that allowed the athletes to keep titles (REUTERS, 3/22). REUTERS reported a Kenyan legislator, who is playing a "key role in the process," said that Kenya is "unlikely" to beat the April 5 deadline set by WADA to put in place laws needed to make it "code-compliant." Kenya faces "the threat of being ruled non-compliant with the WADA code and, although that could eventually lead to sanctions," the IAAF said this month that it is "highly unlikely the distance running powerhouse would be suspended from this year's Olympic Games" (REUTERS, 3/22).
