RUSADA has banned another three athletes for doping ©Getty Images

Rugby player Dmitry Gritsenko, cross-country skier Andrei Nishchakov and cyclist Yekaterina Golovastova have become the latest Russian athletes to be banned for doping.

Nishchakov has been hit with a four-year suspension by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), while the organisation has suspended Gritsenko and Golovastova for two years.

All three have been sanctioned after testing positive but the substances involved have not been disclosed.

Nishchakov's ban, which ends any hopes of him representing Russia at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, has been backdated to June 20 of this year.

He will not be able to return to the sport until June 2023.

RUSADA deputy director general Margarita Pakhnotskaya revealed the body had uncovered more than 100 suspected anti-doping rule violations from January to June 2019 ©Getty Images
RUSADA deputy director general Margarita Pakhnotskaya revealed the body had uncovered more than 100 suspected anti-doping rule violations from January to June 2019 ©Getty Images

Gritsenko, who plays sevens for Kuban, has been suspended from July 15 last year, the date he failed a drugs test.

Golovastov's ban has also been backdated to June 15 last year, meaning she will be free to resume her career before Tokyo 2020.

The announcements come after RUSADA deputy director general Margarita Pakhnotskaya revealed the body had uncovered more than 100 suspected anti-doping rule violations from January to June 2019.

Pakhnotskaya told Russia's official state news agency TASS that RUSADA had registered 102 potential cases in the first six months of the year.