CAS slaps life ban on Russian doping 'mastermind'

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said Monday it had issued a life ban against doctor Sergei Portugalov, an alleged mastermind of state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field.
The Lausanne-based court said in a statement it had slapped Portugalov with a “lifetime period of ineligibility” beginning March 10, 2017, for having supplied athletes with banned substances. 
CAS said that Portugalov, who had served as the head of the Russian athletics federation’s medical commission, had been found to have violated several articles of the IAAF anti-doping regulations, including the possession, trafficking and administration of prohibited substances.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had recommended in a 2015 report that Portugalov take no part in any state sports programme after it found he had been key to rampant doping among Russian track and field athletes.