Country's athletics chief wants cycling's biological passports across all sport
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Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha)(Image credit: Barry Ryan)
Katusha's 2010 kit, with special Russian and Italian champion versions.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Russia's Federal Drug Control Service could be set to launch a major investigation into its sports men and women - that's according to the boss of the All-Russian Athletics Federation.
The suggestions come in the wake of Katusha being denied a WorldTour licence by the UCI, a decision which was then finally reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport a fortnight ago. The team's bid had been rejected on "ethical grounds"
While it is not yet known why the CAS reversed the UCI's decision, it has said that in its deliberations, it "did not reach the same conclusions as the UCI Licensing Commission."
The grounds for the decision will be released "in a few weeks", CAS stated.
"It's possible that soon in our country a large-scale joint investigation will be undertaken, the organizers of which will be the Sports Ministry, [the Athletics Federation], the Federal Drug Control Service, RUSADA [the Russian Anti-Doping Agency] and other organizations," said All-Russian Athletics Federation boss Valentin Balakhnichev.
Russian cycling and athletics have been the most-common sports for anti-doping infringements in recent years with Russian sprinter, and former member of Katusha, Denis Galimzyanov handed a two-year ban late last year having tested positive in an out-of-competition control on March 22.
Track cyclist Victoria Baranova was sent home from the London Olympics year after testing positive to a banned substance in a pre-Games sample.
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Alexandr Kolobnev tested positive for the masking agent hydrochlorothiazide at the 2011 Tour de France only to be cleared by the CAS.
Meantime a number of riders have been implicated in the on-going Padua investigation including Kolobnev, Vladimir Gusev, Mikhail Ignatiev, and Denis Menchov.
Balakhnichev is campaigning for blood passports to be used across all sports in Russia.
