Moscow, Jan 22 (IANS): The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has stopped its inquiry into doping by 22 Russian athletes, that was launched last month, as investigators have failed to find any sufficient evidence of wrongdoing by the sportsmen.

The IBU on Saturday said it found no evidence of doping for 22 Russian athletes suspected of it but would continue investigating seven others, reports Sputnik.

"Regarding the 29 athletes, against which the IBU opened investigation on December 22, the IBU Extraordinary Executive Board meeting decided today to further investigate in 7 (seven) individual athletes. There is no sufficient evidence for the other athletes for the time being," the IBU said in a press release issued on Saturday.

The IBU also said that the decision to suspend provisionally two other athletes, taken at the December 22 meeting of the Extraordinary Executive Board (EB), would not be overturned at this time.

The IBU began looking into the possibility of doping by 31 Russian athletes in December 2016, after receiving the list with their names from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).