Russia set to miss World Indoor Athletics Championships

Russian athletes face missing the 2016 World Indoor Championships because a review of its anti-doping programme will not be finished by March.

Russia was provisionally suspended from world athletics after an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report alleged "state-sponsored doping".

IAAF inspectors will start work next year to decide whether Russia can be re-admitted to competition.

But the World Indoors start on 17 March in Portland, Oregon.

An International Association of Athletics Federations statement announced the timetable for the inspection team, saying: "It is planned that the inspection team mission will commence the verification process no later than 1 January 2016. A first report back at the earliest to the IAAF council at their meeting in Cardiff will be on 27 March 2016."