Curler did not take meldonium 'intentionally'

Moscow - The Russian Olympic curler Alexander Krushelnitsky who tested positive for doping could not have taken a banned drug "intentionally," the Russian sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said on Tuesday.

"In this case, the athlete could not have used the banned drug (meldonium) intentionally, it would be simply pointless. Curling, as a whole, is not the kind of sport in which dishonest athletes use doping," Kolobkov said in comments carried by Russian news agencies.