Russia denies manipulating data given to world anti-doping authority

Russia’s top sport official denied on Thursday that data provided to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) were manipulated.
“There were no manipulations,” Sport Minister Pavel Kolobkov said in comments carried by the Russian news agency Interfax. “Our experts attest that nothing was deleted.”
Russia has struggled for years with far-reaching allegations of performance-enhancing drug use.
Cleared athletes have been allowed to compete internationally as individuals under a neutral flag.
The WADA has raised concerns about what appears to have been changes made to data from a Moscow anti-doping laboratory in 2012 to 2015.
“The problem is technical, connected with the operation of the system itself,” Kolobkov said.
“These issues will be explained at an upcoming meeting of computer experts.’’ (dpa/NAN)