The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday lifted life bans on the 28 out of the 43 Russian athletes accused of doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Sports apex court ruled that there was insufficient evidence that the athletes had benefited from a system of state-sponsored doping at the last Winter Olympic Games hosted in Sochi, Russia, meaning that some of the athletes could still compete at this year’s Pyeongchang Games.

In its judgment, CAS said: “In 28 cases, the evidence collected was found to be insufficient to establish that an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was committed by the concerned athletes.”

It added: “The evidence put forward by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in relation to this matter did not have the same weight in each individual case.”

The IOC had banned Russia from competing at Pyeongchang as a team over the doping scandal, although 169 Russian sports men and women have been cleared to participate as neutrals.

In addition to lifting the bans on the 28, CAS also lifted the bans on another 11 Russians but barred them from competing at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games which is scheduled to commence on February 9.

Forty-two Russian competitors in the skeleton and ice hockey, bobsleighers, cross-country skiers, including 34-year-old Alexander Legkov who won gold in Sochi in the 50km freestyle cross-country skiing event and silver in the 4 x 100km relay appealed against the bans at CAS.