Russian tennis will be represented in Rio.
All eight Russian players nominated for next month's Olympics have been approved to play the Rio Games, the International Tennis Federation announced.
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Three Russian men—Andrey Kuznetsov, Evgeny Donskoy and Teymurz Gabashvili—and four women—Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina and Ekaterina Makarova—will represent Russia in singles.
Elena Vesnina will partner Makarova in doubles; Kuznetsova and Kasatkina will also join forces in Olympic doubles.
All eight Russian players have passed several drug tests, the ITF said in a statement.
"The eight Russian tennis players who have been nominated to compete in Rio have been subject to a rigorous anti-doping testing program outside Russia, which included:
- A total of 205 samples collected since 2014, of which;
- 83 (40%) were collected In-Competition and 122 (60%) Out-of-Competition;
- 111 (54%) were urine samples and 94 (45%) were blood samples.
The ITF believes that this is sufficient for the eight Russian tennis players to meet the relevant requirement of today’s decision of the IOC Executive Board."
The ITF's announcement came after the International Olympic Committee ruled it will not issue a blanket ban to Russia empowering the governing bodies of individual sports to decide Rio eligibility.
Tennis was one of the first sports to approve Russian athletes after the IOC's ruling.
Russia has been under intense scrutiny since release of the McLaren report that charges Russia with running a state-sponsored doping program from 2011 to 2015.
The Russian Athletics team is banned from Rio.
The ITF said it will also seek confirmation that none of the eight Russian players nor the Russian Tennis Federation were implicated in the McLaren report.
Asked about the issue during Wimbledon, two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova said she believes the allegations against Russian sport are politically-driven.
"I say, this is, for me, politics, you know. Suddenly everything has to go against Russia," Kuznetsova said. "Somebody in Russia, they're all bad, and all the world is good. For me, it's a little bit funny.
"I have nothing to do with that. I hope they resolve it. And the clean athletes who deserve to go to Olympics, they will go. For me, I think this is the key. It's some problems, but I hope we overcome it and it's gonna be good."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy