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Article snippet: Top sports and government officials of the World Anti-Doping Agency have rejected the appeals of Russia’s sports minister and refused to recognize the nation as compliant with the global antidoping code, imperiling Russia’s participation in major competitions just three months before the start of the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. At a meeting in Seoul on Thursday — late Wednesday night Eastern Time — the regulator’s 38-member foundation board chose not to restore Russia’s antidoping agency to good standing. Endorsing the recent recommendation of a compliance review committee, the regulator’s board ruled that the nation still had not fulfilled several requirements following revelations of widespread, state-sponsored cheating. Among those requirements is that Russia accept the findings of an investigation published last year, which concluded that more than 1,000 Russian athletes were tied up in a systematic doping program organized by the country’s sports ministry. Addressing the antidoping regulators in Seoul, Pavel Kolobkov, Russia’s sports minister, called the findings of that investigation a conspiracy, echoing Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s remarks from last week. Mr. Kolobkov argued it was impossible for Russian athletes’ urine samples to have been tampered with at the 2014 Sochi Games, as forensic investigators have determined they were. The decision by the antidoping agency raises fresh concern about the nation’s drug-testing efforts and is l... Link to the full article to read more