Russia wants balanced drugs testing programme

Russia's athletics chief coach has asked the sport's governing body (IAAF) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a more balanced drugs testing programme. Valery Kulichenko accused the IAAF of discriminating against the Russians, saying his...

Russia's athletics chief coach has asked the sport's governing body (IAAF) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a more balanced drugs testing programme.

Valery Kulichenko accused the IAAF of discriminating against the Russians, saying his athletes have been drug tested more often than most of their competitors.

"The IAAF's statistics don't lie, our athletes have been tested 102 times for the past month while the Americans only 41 and the Chinese a mere nine times," he said yesterday.

"I don't understand why there is such a discrepancy."

Russia have been the sport's dominant force in Europe and are expected to challenge the United States for the medal count at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, in August.

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