The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Tuesday it will not appeal a controversial Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that halved Russia's international doping ban to two years. In a brief statement, WADA said it had elected not to challenge the CAS ruling at the Swiss Federal Tribunal after taking advice from in-house and external legal counsel. The global anti-doping watchdog said an appeal to the tribunal would be restricted to procedural matters and could not interfere with the CAS panel's assessment of the proportionality of Russia's punishment. "As a result...WADA strongly believes an appeal would have served no useful purpose and decided to refrain from doing so," a WADA statement said. The Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling in December slashed Russia's sporting ban from four to two years and cleared Russian athletes to compete in major championships as neutrals. The CAS ruling was lambasted by critics as a blow for clean sport, with the Global Athlete advocacy group branding it as "farcical". "The fact that Russian Athletes can compete as 'Neutral Athletes from Russia' is another farcical facade that makes a mockery of the system," Global Athlete said in a statement. "If athletes from Russia can still compete, it is not a sanction. Russia has not been banned; they have simply been rebranded." rcw/jc