South Korean-born short track skater Viktor Ahn and 46 other Russian athletes and coaches have lost their last minute appeals to compete in the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport(CAS) announced Friday at the Main Press Center in Pyeongchang that it turned down appeals against the International Olympic Committee's(IOC) decision not to invite them to compete in the games.

Six-time gold medalist Ahn is Russia's most decorated short track skater. He has insisted he was not involved in the state-sponsored doping program which led to the exclusion. 

CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said the applicants had failed to prove the IOC's evaluation that led to their exclusion had been discriminatory, arbitrary or unfair.  

He added that the process "created by the IOC to establish an invitation list of Russian athletes to compete as Olympic Athletes from Russia could not be described as a sanction but rather as an eligibility decision."