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Russian volleyball player slapped with 15-month ban over doping use

Pavel Moroz, 35, is the silver-medal winner of the 2014 Russian Volleyball Championship

Wallace De Souza, Pavel Moroz and Nikolay Apalikov Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images for FIVB

Wallace De Souza, Pavel Moroz and Nikolay Apalikov

© Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images for FIVB

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Pavel Moroz, a top Russian volleyball player, has been dealt a 15-month suspension for breaching anti-doping regulations, the press service of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) revealed in a statement.

"Volleyball player Pavel Moroz has accepted the FIVB’s sanction for an anti-doping rule violation," the statement reads.

"Moroz thereby acknowledged that the prohibited substance Trimetazidine (specified Stimulant) was found in his sample taken during an in-competition test on 29 April 2014, during the Russian National Volleyball Championships 2014…," according to the statement.

"As a result, he has been sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of fifteen months starting on 1 January 2022 and ending on 31 March 2023," the statement added.

Moroz, 35, is the silver-medal winner of the 2014 Russian Volleyball Championship. He also earned two silver medals from the Russia Cup (2011 and 2014) and clinched the silver at the national clubs’ competitions (2013). He played for the Russian national volleyball team from 2012 to 2015.

Russia’s volleyball under sanctions

In late October, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) announced that the Russian national women’s and men’s volleyball teams were not included on the list of participants at the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in France.

On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

In mid-October, IOC President Thomas Bach announced that the Olympic body recommended keeping athletes from Russia and Belarus suspended from international sports tournaments.

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