Tennis chiefs back Russian reprieve for Olympics

Russia’s tennis team will be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics this summer after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) backed the decision not to impose a blanket ban on the country’s competitors.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Sunday that Russia would not be thrown out of the Games for running a state-directed doping programme, with international federations for individual sports instructed to rule on Russian athletes for themselves.

The ITF was quick to do so and announced that the Russian team will be welcome to compete in Brazil.