“McLaren’s support was not surprising, there will be many statements in favor of Russian sport” – Tarpishchev

Richard McLaren’s words in favor of Russian sport were not surprising, now there will be many such statements, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation told . Shamil Tarpishchev .

Earlier, the International Olympic Committee called on international sports federations to withdraw Russian athletes from official competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. On Sunday, the head of the independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission investigating the doping scandal at the 2014 Olympics, McLaren, in an interview with Sportschau, called for the admission of Russian athletes to the international competitions.

How would you rate McLaren’s statement?

“Absolutely not surprised,” Tarpishchev told . – The situation will change, now there will be a lot of such statements. But the participation of Russian athletes depends on the international federations. We play tennis, but not football, for example. We just have to wait, the return of Russian sport no longer depends on us.

In 2016, McLaren wrote a report in which he stated that in Russia there was a state system that manipulated doping samples and covered up athletes. In 2017, Vitaly Smirnov, who headed the Independent Public Anti-Doping Commission, said McLaren had dropped allegations of state support for Russian doping.