WADA not appeal CAS decision over Russia ban to Swiss highest court

The Olympic rings inside the building of the Russian Olympic Committee are seen in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 6, 2017, the day when the IOC announces that Russia is banned from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics over doping concerns. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)

WADA will not appeal the CAS decision after the latter cutting Russia's ban from the original four years to two years.

MONTREAL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will not appeal against Russia's two-year ban which was cut from four years by the the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) late last year.

WADA made the confirmation on Tuesday following the passing of the deadline to appeal the CAS decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT).

But WADA reiterated its disappointment in a statement on Tuesday.

"WADA was disappointed that the CAS Panel, based on its own assessment of proportionality, decided not to impose all the consequences that WADA sought (and not for the full four-year period)," it said.

WADA said the SFT will not review the merits of the case but rather deal with procedural matters. Therefore "following unanimous advice from in-house and external legal counsels, WADA strongly believes an appeal would have served no useful purpose and decided to refrain from doing so," it said.

CAS upheld the sanctions against Russia for doping but cut the original four-year period of ineligibility to two years, which will still prevent Russian athletes from competing at major international events including the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Beijing Winter Olympics as well as the Qatar World Cup under the country's flag.

WADA said it was "pleased to have won this landmark case" but "disappointed" that CAS had not supported the four-year ban.