Euro 2016: Russia team doctor concerned with excessive drug tests

Eduard Bezuglov said that inspectors came to the Russian camp on three occasions during the build-up to Euro 2016, testing 10 players at a time.

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Russia started their Euro 2016 campaign with a 1-1 draw against England. (Source: Reuters)

Russia’s team doctor is concerned that his players may be taking more doping tests than any other country at the European Championship.

Eduard Bezuglov said Monday that inspectors came to the Russian camp on three occasions during the build-up to Euro 2016, testing 10 players at a time, and “broke a record once by coming at 6.30 a.m.” Russia gave 34 doping samples, according to Bezuglov, without giving exact dates.

Asked if Russia’s football team was being unfairly targeted because of other doping scandals in Russian sport, Bezuglov said: “We’ve been asking this question to ourselves, whether we have been tested more than other.”

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“There is a hope that everybody is treated equally,” Bezuglov said at Russia’s training base just outside Paris. “And I am saying this because the Russian national football team has never had any precedents of this kind. We have never had a single problem like that. And this is throughout the whole history of Russian football – and I would like to emphasise that – the number of doping tests in Russian football has always been well above the requirement.”

Russia international Egor Titov was banned for 12 months after failing a doping test in 2004. Two Russia players – CSKA Moscow defenders Sergei Ignashevich and Alexei Berezutsky – were given one-match bans from UEFA in 2009 after failing a drugs test following a Champions League match with Manchester United.

Asked for a response to Bezuglov’s comments, UEFA told The Associated Press that it does not provide figures on the number of tests conducted for each team. The body has said its anti-doping program for Euro 2016 is the largest ever conducted at a European Championship and would feature “extensive out-of-competition testing, in-competition tests at every match and targeted testing based on intelligence and knowledge-sharing.”

Marc Vouillamoz, UEFA’s head of medical and anti-doping, said last week that UEFA was “paying special attention to the Russian team.”

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Contacted by the AP, the English Football Association said it would not be revealing any information on how many tests England’s players have had before or during the Euros.

Bezuglov said the Russian team treats the scrutiny on its players “with understanding,” though he added: “Any information from any kind of media source – even if it is from India – is a reason to come to us at 6.30 a.m. to test our football players.”

Last month, FIFA drug testers arrived unannounced to collect samples from Russian team FC Rostov amid suspicions of meldonium use during its surprise pursuit of the league title. None of the tests returned positive.