CAS rejects appeals of 13 Russians on eve of Olympics as ruling on Pyeonyang participation awaits

Communications Director at World Anti-Doping Agency Catherine Maclean arrives for a press conference of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ahead of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on February 8, 2018 in Pyeongchang [Photo: @AFP]

A group of 13 Russians lost a last-ditch bid to beat their country's doping ban and take part in the Pyeongchang Olympics on Thursday, the day before the opening ceremony.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is also dealing with 47 other Russian appeals, said it "lacked jurisdiction" to deal with the six athletes and seven doctors, coaches and support staff.

CAS said separately that a decision over the 47 others attempting to gain late entry into the Olympics would be announced on Friday at 11:00 am (1400 GMT).

That will be just nine hours before the opening ceremony.

In December, the IOC suspended Russia over a state-sponsored doping conspiracy culminating in its hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

But the IOC left open a loophole when it said a large group of "clean" Russian athletes could take part under a neutral flag as "Olympic Athletes from Russia".

The CAS drew criticism last week when it lifted life Olympic bans imposed on 28 Russians. But when 15 of them applied to take part in Pyeongchang, the IOC refused to give them invitations.

Currently the Olympic Athletes from Russia number 168 -- the fourth biggest team behind USA, Canada and Switzerland.

Meanwhile, a decision on an appeal by Russian athletes to compete at the Pyeongchang Olympics will be issued on Friday at 1100 local time (0200 GMT), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Thursday.

CAS has been handling several appeals from the Russians after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited 169 carefully screened Russian athletes to compete as independents in South Korea.

Russia was banned from Pyeongchang over the Sochi 2014 doping scandal and the IOC had banned dozens of athletes from the games for life and stripped their Sochi Games medals following several investigations.

CAS upheld the appeal of 28 athletes due to insufficient evidence but the IOC still refused to invite them saying the evidence was there.

CAS is also handling appeals of Russians, including Olympic champion skater Viktor Ahn, who had not been named in the doping investigations or had any prior doping offences but were still not invited due to doping suspicions by the IOC