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Following the IOC's decision on Sunday not to issue a blanket
ban on Russians despite evidence of systematic doping, global
sporting federations have been left to decide which athletes can
compete at the Rio Games.
The BWF held the draws for the Rio Games on Tuesday and included
Vladimir Malkov and Natalia Perminova in the men's and women's
singles as well as the men's doubles partnership of Vladimir
Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov.
"We have had a rigid drug-testing programme, especially leading
up to Rio 2016 and all four Russian athletes have been tested in
and out of competition and their samples have been analyzed
outside of Russia," Secretary General Thomas Lund said during
the draw.
"We believe the information that we have provided on these
athletes lives up to the criteria for participation in the
Badminton Competition at Rio 2016, but it is left for the IOC to
validate.
"We have chosen to keep them in the draw, pending that
validation."
The badminton competition at the Rio Olympics takes place from
Aug. 11-20.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by
Nick Mulvenney)
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