Anti-doping leaders want Russian Olympic Committee excluded from Winter games

An ice sculpture of the Olympic rings is seen during the Pyeongchang Winter Festival, near the venue for the opening and closing ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

ZURICH (Reuters) - A group of the world's leading national anti-doping organisations (NADOs) have called for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to be excluded from next year's Winter Games in Pyeongchang over alleged state-sponsored doping.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday after a two-day meeting in Denver, the NADOs also criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for "continuing failure in its obligations to clean sport."