Russia was banned from the world’s top sporting events for four years on December 9, including the next summer and winter Olympics and the 2022 football World Cup, for tampering with doping tests.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) executive committee acted after concluding that Moscow had planted fake evidence and deleted files linked to positive doping tests in laboratory data that could have helped identify drug cheats.

The decision was a huge blow to the pride of a nation that has traditionally been a powerhouse in many sports but whose reputation has been tarnished by a series of doping scandals.

What is WADA?

The World Anti-Doping Agency was established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world. Its key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) - the document harmonising anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries.

The organisation’s headquarters is in Montreal, Canada.

WADA is composed of a foundation board, an executive committee and several committees.

The 38-member foundation board is WADA’s supreme decision-making body. It is composed equally of representatives from the Olympic Movement and governments.

The foundation board delegates the actual management and running of the agency, including the performance of activities and the administration of assets, to the executive committee, WADA’s ultimate policy-making body.

The 12-member executive committee is also composed equally of representatives from the Olympic Movement and governments.

WADA’s presidency - a volunteer position - alternates between the Olympic Movement and governments.

WADA’s committees act as advisory committees and provide guidance for the agency’s programmes.

Why did WADA act against Russia?

Russia has been embroiled in doping scandals since a 2015 report commissioned by WADA found evidence of mass doping in Russian athletics. Many of Russia’s athletes were sidelined from the past two Olympics and Russia was stripped of its flag altogether at last year’s Pyeongchang Winter Games as punishment for state-sponsored doping cover-ups at the 2014 Sochi Games.

The sanctions, which also include a four-year ban on Russia hosting major sporting events, were recommended by WADA’s compliance review committee in response to the doctored laboratory data provided by Moscow this year.

One of the conditions for the reinstatement of Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, suspended in 2015 but reinstated last year, had been that Moscow provide an authentic copy of the laboratory data.

“For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport,” WADA president Craig Reedie said after a meeting of WADA’s executive committee in Lausanne. He said in a statement that Russia’s actions had demanded a robust response and added: “That is exactly what has been delivered today.”

How did Russia react to the ban?

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had grounds to appeal a decision by the WADA to bar Russia from major sporting events, a move he said violated the Olympic charter.

Putin said Russia would analyse a decision he said smacked of politics and was not in the interest of sport.

“The WADA conclusions contained no complaints directed at Russia’s national Olympic committee. And if there are no complaints against it, then the country should compete under the national flag. That’s written in the Olympic charter. That means that, in that aspect, the WADA decision violated the Olympic charter. We have all grounds to appeal,” Putin said.

Some Russian officials have tried to cast WADA’s behaviour as part of what they say is a broader western attempt to hold back Moscow.

Igor Lebedev, a lawmaker and deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said the move was a serious blow to Russian sport that requires a tough response from Russian authorities.

If RUSADA appeals WADA’s punishment, the case will be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

No ticket to Tokyo Olympics

The ban also means Russian athletes will not be able to perform at the Olympics in Tokyo next year under their own flag and national anthem. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has come under attack for not taking a harder line on Russian doping, said it fully backed the ruling by WADA.

The punishment leaves the door open for clean Russian athletes to compete at big international events without their flag or anthem for the next four years, something they did at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic organising committee said it would welcome all athletes as long as they were clean and work with other organisations to fully implement anti-doping measures, said Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya.

Can Russia play at the Qatar World Cup?

WADA confirmed the Russian national team could not take part in the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar under the Russian flag and could participate only as neutrals.

It was not clear how competing as neutrals at the World Cup might work in practice. FIFA, football’s world governing body, said it was in contact with WADA to clarify the extent of the decision.

Russia will still be allowed to compete in qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, but WADA director general Olivier Niggli added that should they progress to the finals in Qatar, “the team there will not be representing the Russian federation”.

Russia’s participation in Euro 2020 - and St Petersburg’s hosting of four matches - is not affected by the ban because it is not defined as a “major event” for anti-doping purposes.

“If they qualify (for the World Cup), a team representing Russia cannot participate. But if there is a mechanism put in place, then they can apply to participate on a neutral basis, not as representatives of Russia,” said Jonathan Taylor, chair of WADA’s compliance review committee.

Taylor said FIFA had the option of putting in place such a mechanism and that it would allow clean Russian athletes to apply to compete as neutrals. “It will be for FIFA to implement, but they will have to do so in conjunction with WADA. But there will be no flag or anthem,” Taylor said.

Does India have an anti-doping agency?

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) was set up in India as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act of 1890 on November 24, 2005 with a mandate for dope-free sports in India. The objectives are to implement anti-doping rules as per WADA code, regulate dope control programme, to promote education and research and creating awareness about doping and its ill-effects.

The primary functions of NADA are…

* Implement the Anti-Doping Code to achieve compliance by all sports organisations in the country.

* Coordinate dope testing programme through all participating stakeholders.

* Promote anti-doping research and education to inculcate the value of dope-free sports.

* Adopt best practice standards and quality systems to enable effective implementation and continual improvement of the programme.

In August, the WADA suspended the accreditation of India’s National Dope Testing Laboratory for six months in a massive blow to the country’s anti-doping programme. The lab, which got WADA accreditation in 2008, is no longer authorised to carry out testing of samples as the suspension is effective from August 20. The NADA can still collect samples (blood and urine) but will have to get them tested by a WADA-accredited laboratory outside India.

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