Russian athletes will be barred from competing at major international events, including the Olympics, under the country¡¯s flag until 2022 after a Swiss court on Thursday upheld doping sanctions but halved the original four-year ban.

The ruling will leave Russian athletes without their flag and national anthem at next year¡¯s Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a severe blow to Russian sport which has been tarnished in recent years by a string of doping scandals.

The World Anti-Doping Agency had originally banned Russia from the world¡¯s top sporting events for four years in December 2019, but the sanctions could not be implemented until the end of the appeal process.