Moscow  - The sport of biathlon skiing in Russia suffered another
doping blow Thursday when the Allsport news agency reported that two
skiers tested positive at the national championships in the West
Siberian town of Uvat.

According to the reports, the A-samples of one male and one female
skier tested positive for the blood-booster EPO, the same drug that
biathlon Ekaterina Iourieva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitri Yaroshenko
tested positive for at the biathlon World Cup season-opener in
Ostersund, Sweden, last December.

The trio were identified as drug cheats after the examination of
their B-samples ahead of February's world championships in Pyeongchang,
South Korea.

The tests on the two as yet unnamed skiers were carried out by
Russia's anti-doping agency and if the B-sample returns positive they
face a two-year ban. (dpa)