Russia hockey player 'used drugs'

Cherepanov was one of Russia's best ice hockey players

A Russian ice hockey star who died mid-match in October had been taking performance-enhancing drugs, say prosecutors investigating his death.

Alexei Cherepanov, 19, had been due to join the prestigious US National League but collapsed at a match in Chekhov.

Investigators said blood and urine samples showed he had been engaged in doping for "several months".

They also said the striker had had a serious heart condition and should not have been playing hockey.

Cherepanov, one of Russia's top strikers, was the first-round draft choice of the National Hockey League's New York Rangers in 2007.

But he collapsed three minutes from the end of the Avangard Omsk-Vityaz match in Chekhov, outside Moscow.

His heart had stopped and medics were unable to revive him at hospital. He was pronounced dead some two hours later.

The statement from prosecutor general's office also suggested that medical staff could still face legal liabilities over the incident.

It said that "a row of gross violations was committed by the medical brigade," including a delay in emergency workers reaching Cherepanov.