London, February 8: The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Sir Craig Reedie has taken a dig at the Court of Arbitration's (CAS) decision to overturn the ban of 28 Russian athletes just days ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
It may be recalled that on February 1, CAS had overturned the Russian athletes' lifetime bans citing insufficient evidence that they had broken anti-doping rules at the Sochi Olympics 2014.
It had also partially upheld 11 appeals lodged by athletes challenging sanctions made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Amidst reports that IOC could challenge the lifting of the ban, Reedie came down heavily on CAS decision.
"I'm really disappointed that has happened and I really need to find out why CAS got into that situation."
While addressing a press conference at Pyeongchang, Reedie also asked whistleblowers in sport not to go public with their information saying it would compromise their own potential protection.
"We'll protect and defend all whistleblowers' interests," Reedie said.
"We will protect and defend (all #whistleblowers') interests," #WADA President #CraigReedie said.#PyeongChang2018 #WinterOlympics https://t.co/KLvOUsKT2C
— The Peninsula (@PeninsulaQatar) February 8, 2018
"The problem comes when they themselves go into the public domain. Once that happens it becomes difficult for us to offer good protection. They've now said it publicly."
Track and field athlete Yulia Stepanova and her husband Vitaly, who went public about doping in Russia back in 2014, has accused WADA of doing nothing after they had tried for years to pass on information to the anti-doping body.
As a result Russia's track and field team was banned from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and Russia was banned from the Pyeongchang Games, with the athletes competing as neutrals under the Olympic flag.
(With Agency inputs)