2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil Aug 05-21,2016 - International Olympic Committee (IOC)Approves 271 out of the 389 Russian athletes to participate in Rio 2016 Thursday Aug 04,2016

The International Olympic Committee (IOC)on Thursday Aug 04,2016 approved 271 Russian athletes to participate out of the original contingent of 389, banning some 30 per cent of the participants blamed on "state-directed" doping and cover-up.

The IOC decision came just about 24 hours before the games extravaganza takes off with an opening ceremony at the Maracana stadium here on Friday evening (early Saturday in India).

The committee rejected calls to ban Russia entirely from the games, following report by World Anti-Doping Agency of wide-spread doping and cover-up by Russian authorities.

The decision may have come as a relief to those who had been preparing for years to participate in the world's most prestigious games.

Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee told the media there was "good news" for the fans as "the majority" of the sports had been admitted in full