Russian Soccer Team Has Surprise Meldonium Test

FIFA doping testers turned up unannounced Thursday to collect samples from Russian soccer team FC Rostov amid suspicions of meldonium use during its surprise pursuit of the league title.

The Rostov starting 11 were tested after they won 3-1 at leader Dynamo Moscow to move within two points of the Russian capital club with two games remaining, FIFA medical chief Jiri Dvorak told The Associated Press.

Dvorak said Rostov, which is owned by the regional government in southern Russia, was “absolutely” compliant with his doping testing team.

“We have today done an unannounced (doping) control of a football club, Rostov,” Dvorak told the AP at the FIFA Congress in Mexico City shortly after the tests were completed in the Russian capital.

The team lineup, according to FIFA’s live scores website was: Soslan Djanaev (Russian), Dmitri Poloz (Russian), Bastos (Angolan), Christian Noboa (Ecuadorian), Pavel Mogilevets (Russian), Sardar Azmoun (Iranian), Ivan Novoseltsev (Russian), Boris Rotenberg (Russian-Finnish), Fedor Koudryashov (Russian), Cesar Navas (Spanish), Aleksandr Erokhin (Russian).

Dvorak conducted the xenon checks after hearing rumors Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were using the gas, which is said to artificially increase the levels of erythropoietin (EPO) in the blood.