THE WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY recently imposed a four-year ban on Russia for doping violations. As a result, Russia cannot participate in international sports events. While anti-doping regulation is important to ensure fair competition in sports, innocent athletes' legal rights and interests should also be protected. China Daily writer Wang Yiqing comments:

In recent years, Russia's athletes have frequently been exposed for doping violations and severely punished by WADA. But the approval of WADA's latest and severest anti-doping punishment means Russia could be out of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo and 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

In addition, for the next four years, Russia will be banned from hosting any international sports event. Russian athletes can still participate in international sports events, but they can do so only in an individual capacity and not represent their country. And when they win medals, the Russian national flag will not be raised and the Russian national anthem will not be played.

In its statement issued on Dec 9, WADA said Russia had detracted from clean sports for far too long. Russian authorities admitted there were serious problems in Russia's sports circles, but they also insisted that any doping punishment should be imposed on individuals rather than the entire country, and Russian athletes who have not violated anti-doping requirements should not be painted with the same brush.

Every sports participant is unanimous in the view that anti-doping rules are a great leveler, required to ensure fairness in competitions. And those found violating international anti-doping rules should be punished according to international anti-doping regulations, because they not only defile the purity and fairness of sports events, but also undermine the legal rights of other athletes who abide by the principles of fair competition.

Russia now has 21 days to appeal against WADA's verdict in the Court for Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and it has already announced it will do so. As the arbitration investigation could take a long time, it is not clear when the final verdict on WADA's four-year ban on Russia will be known.

Referring to the WADA decision, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a recent news conference that China pays great attention to anti-doping regulation and has a zero-tolerance policy toward doping. But she also spoke of the need to do away with the tendency of politicizing sports, and stressed protecting the legal rights and interests of innocent athletes is also necessary for fairness in sports.