Doping hearing to decide Russian skater’s Olympic fate

Beijing: Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s right to compete in the women’s event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The International Testing Agency said Friday it will lead an appeal on behalf of the IOC against a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to lift a provisional ban imposed on the 15-year-old Valieva for failing a doping test in December.

The ITA confirms reports that Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in December.

The ITA says the positive test was notified by a laboratory on Tuesday after Valieva helped the Russians win the team event but before the medal ceremony, which was then postponed. Whether the Russians will lose their gold medal in the team event will be decided later.