Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian skateboarder has been handed a four-year doping ban, just as his sport prepares to make its Olympic debut.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency says Maxim Kruglov, known as "Mad Maxim," was punished under a rule against athletes who evade or refuse giving a drug-test sample.
The agency didn't give further details of Kruglov's actions.
Kruglov was the top-ranked Russian in the World Cup street series last year and was aiming for a place at next year's Olympics in Tokyo. However, he told Russian sports website Championat last year he clashed with the Russian Skateboarding Federation and was skating independently of its national team.
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP\_Sports
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
