World Sailing Clears Six of Seven Russians to Compete in Rio Olympics

Six out of seven Russian sportsmen have been cleared to compete in Rio Olympics by the World Sailing (WS) international governing body.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The World Sailing (WS) international governing body said Tuesday it cleared six of seven Russian athletes to participate in the Rio Olympics next month.

"Following a conference call earlier today with its Board of Directors, World Sailing have provisionally confirmed the participation of six athletes from Russia for the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games," the governing body," the WS said in a statement.

It offered the Russian federation to pick a "late athlete replacement" for two-person 470 Men's Class competitor Pavel Sozykin. WS said Sozykin has been denied eligibility "based upon the findings of the McLaren Investigation Report."

Last week's World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report author, Richard McLaren, withheld the name of the sailor in one of the 12 bottles found to have been tampered in late 2014.