Russia to appeal blanket ban on weightlifters for Olympics

MOSCOW – Russia will immediately appeal the decision to ban all eight of its weightlifters from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for doping.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutkov told Match TV on Saturday that the country will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport this weekend.

The International Weightlifting Federation issued the ban on Friday for what it called “extremely shocking” results that brought the sport into “disrepute.”

Weightlifting became the second sport after track and field to issue a blanket ban on Russian athletes over doping. Other sports have banned individual Russians but not all of the eligible athletes.

Mutko said: “CAS now works 24 hours a day, so today or tomorrow we will support our athletes and try to get them restored to the team.”