New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS): The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the Russian Olympic Committee against the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend its membership.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October last year for breaching the Olympic Charter. The suspension means ROC is no longer entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee, as defined in the Olympic Charter, and cannot receive any funding from the Olympic Movement.

"The CAS Panel in charge of this matter dismissed the appeal and confirmed the Challenged Decision, finding that the IOC EB did not breach the principles of legality, equality, predictability or proportionality," the CAS statement read.

"The CAS Panel’s decision is final and binding except for the parties’ right to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited grounds," it added.

The ROC called the suspension "another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations". It appealed the suspension with CAS, sport's highest tribunal, on November 6.

In December, the IOC announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes who have qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be allowed to participate as neutrals, as long as they did not actively support the war on Ukraine.