Russia will not compete at next month’s Paralympics in Rio after losing an appeal against a ban imposed for state-sponsored doping.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) upheld the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) ban on all Russian competitors.
The IPC made the decision in light of the McLaren report, which detailed a state-sponsored doping programme operated by Russia.
The Paralympics begin on 7 September.
The IPC’s decision to ban the entire Russian team “was proportionate in the circumstances”, according to the Cas panel, which said it would publish the full grounds for its decision later.
It added that the Russian Paralympic Committee did not file any evidence contradicting the facts put forward by the IPC.
The IPC’s decision is in contrast to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which chose not to hand Russia a blanket ban from the Olympic Games.
The IOC was widely criticised for ignoring the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) recommendation to ban Russia.
Instead, each individual sporting federation was given the power to decide if Russian competitors were allowed to compete. A three-person IOC panel then had the final say.
In the end, more than 270 Russian athletes were cleared to compete at the Olympics, with Russia winning 56 medals in total and finishing in fourth place in the medal table.
Russia had been set to take 267 competitors across 18 sports to the Paralympics. The Cas statement added that it had not looked at the “natural justice rights or personality rights” of individual Russian athletes in making its decision.
Russia’s Paralympic team’s lawyer, Alexei Karpenko, confirmed the decision was final, saying they would try to file an appeal with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, but it would take between one and two years for the court to consider the case.
“So I’m afraid Russian Paralympians will not be going to the Games in any case,” Karpenko added.
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