Lausanne, Dec 17 (IANS): The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday acknowledged a two-year ban imposed on Russia by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and said it will consult with International Federations (IF) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on the matter.

The ban means that Russian athletes won't be able to compete under the Russian flag in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

"The IOC has taken note of the CAS decision. It will now carefully evaluate the award and its consequences for competitions within the Olympic Movement, in particular with regard to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022," said the IOC in a statement.

"In this respect, the IOC will consult with the International Federations and the International Paralympic Committee with a view to having a consistent approach in the implementation of the award."

The Lausanne-based CAS halved the four-year ban that was initially imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in a landmark case that accused Russia of running an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme and widespread tampering of a testing laboratory database in Moscow.