FIFA probes two Russian footballers on doping abuse allegations

Moscow Feb 8 (IANS) The world governing body for football FIFA is holding investigations in regard to two Russian footballers Ruslan Kambolov and Ivan Knyazev on suspicion of violating anti-doping regulations Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said.

"We initially received a list (from FIFA) with a request regarding 11 footballers and now two of them namely Kambolov and Knyazev are under investigation " Mutko told Tass news agency.

"The RFU (Russian Football Union) in this particular case is not a subject to doping control this case has nothing to do with the national team and we can only request or grant information " he said.

"Athletes undergo (doping) testing during tournaments European cups and in their national teams."

"We are absolutely open; Kambolov and Knyazev already testified and we will see where it all ends " Mutko added.

In September 2016 the FIFA requested data from Russia regarding 11 footballers who were mentioned in the McLaren Report of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Mutko announced at that time that doping samples of nine footballers from the list tested negative for banned performance enhancing drugs.

--IANS
sam/sac