Russia to replace whole hockey team over postive drug tests
More drug problems for Russian sports.
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Russia is reported to be set to replace its entire ice hockey team for an under-18 world championship. This comes after more than half of the team's players tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug meldonium.
According to Canadian sports television network "TSN" and "The Hockey News", the Russian ice hockey federation took the decision not to send the country's under-18 team to the IIHF World Under-18 Men's World Championship which begins next week in Grand Forks, North Dakota as a direct result of the positive drug tests.Instead, it appears Russia is to set to send its under-17 team to the tournament. Both reports cited a story posted on the Russian website allhockey.ru. There has been no confirmation of the report from the Russian ice hockey federation.
Russian hockey reporter Slava Malamud told "TSN" on Thursday that he and other journalists were still trying to get confirmation, but that so far, the federation was on "lockdown mode."
"A very unpleasant situation has occurred," Malamud quoted Vitali Prokhorov, the under-18 coach, as saying. "No futher comments," added Prokhorov, who told Russian sports agency "R-Sport" that he had been relieved of his duties.
http://www.dw.com/en/report-russia-t...sts/a-19172197
