Decision made by WADA on Russia to be 'mandatory' for IOC

A decision made by the executive body of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regarding Russia will be mandatory for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

IOC President Thomas Bach said on Thursday that the WADA decision will be mandatory for them. The IOC has also accepted the World Anti-Doping Code in its Olympic charter, he added.

At a press conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the end of a meeting of the IOC executive body, Bach said that he did not want to speculate on future events because he didn't know what decision will be taken, but the irregularities committed by Russia seemed obvious, Efe news reported.

The WADA Compliance Review Committee proposed a series of serious sanctions against Russia for the manipulation of its anti-doping data.

Among them was the prohibition on organising world competitions for four years, the veto of its sports authorities in international federations and the participation of its athletes as independents, without representing their country, in the same period of time.

Possible sanctions will be announced on Monday, less than eight months before next year's Tokyo Olympics.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency has 21 days to accept the sanctions and if it does not, WADA will take the case to the Court of Sports Arbitration.