Russia appeals Rio weightlifting ban at CAS

The Russian weightlifting federation on Monday launched an appeal against their doping ban from the Rio Olympics at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the tribunal announced.

The International Weightlifting Federation last week suspended the Russian federation after an investigation which found widespread state-run doping in Russia.

The eight Russian weightlifters entered for Rio were excluded because of the ban.

Russian federation president Sergei Syrtsov told R-Sport news agency: "We have already submitted an appeal to CAS to be reinstated. We are waiting for a decision."

He said that if the federation won then a new case would be lodged to get the eight lifters into the Rio contest.

Three swimmers and a wrestler have also made appeals to CAS over their bans. The action could hold up naming the final delayed Russian delegation for Rio.

The IWF said last week that "the integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians, therefore an appropriate sanction was applied in order to preserve the status of the sport."

The eight Russians selected for Rio were Oleg Chen, Adam Maligov, Ruslan Albegov, David Bedzhanyan and Artem Okulov in the men's competition and women lifters Tatiana Kashirina, Tima Turieva and Anastasia Romanova.

Okulov is a world champion while at the London Games in 2012, Albegov claimed a bronze medal and Kashirina took home a silver.

Kashirina and Romanova had their entries withdrawn by the Russian Olympic Committee over existing anti-doping rule violations, the IWF said.

Four others were named in the report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which exposed widespread state-sponsored doping in Russia.

After the report, the International Olympic Committee called on individual federations to decide which Russian athletes had a clean enough record to compete in Rio, where the Games start on Friday.

There are at least 117 Russian competitors banned from the Games from the 387 initially nominated by the Russian Olympic Committee.