IAAF taskforce to visit Russia for the first time in January

MONACO (AP) The International Association of Athletics Federations says a taskforce will visit Russia for the first time on Jan. 10-11 next year to inspect the response to the doping scandal which caused it to be banned from the sport.

Russia must meet steps set out by the IAAF to be reinstated.

It was suspended in November after a World Anti-Doping Agency commission, led by Dick Pound, exposed widespread, systematic and allegedly state-sanctioned doping. If the ban continues to be upheld, its athletes could miss the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

Rune Anderson, independent chairman of the taskforce, says ''we have established a good working relationship as the basis of our future discussions and meetings.''