Six Russian ice hockey players banned for life

Lausanne, December 12 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned six Russian female ice hockey players from the Olympics for life over doping allegations linked to the 2014 Sochi Games, the ruling body said here today.

The decision came a week after the IOC banned Russia from next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for what it called “unprecedented systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping system. The IOC, however, left the door open for Russian athletes with a clean history of non-doping to be invited to compete in Pyeongchang as neutrals.

The banned ice hockey players are Inna Dyubanok, Ekaterina Lebedeva, Ekaterina Pashkevich, Anna Shibanova, Ekaterina Smolentseva and Galina Skiba.

“The Russian Team is disqualified from the Women’s Ice Hockey Event and the International Ice Hockey Federation is requested to modify the results of the event accordingly,” the IOC said in a statement. — Reuters