Plans to exile Russia completely from world sport were being drawn up by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s own athlete committee on Tuesday night as the backlash against the “Groundhog Day” ban on the country intensified.

Members of the committee are due to stage a conference call on Wednesday to consider lodging an appeal against the leniency of the four-year bar on the country hosting global sporting events or competing at them under its own flag.

Wada on Monday ignored calls from half of that committee, among others, to ban all Russians from the world stage over the country’s cover-up of state-sponsored cheating at events including the London and Sochi Olympics and Paralympics.

It was condemned for doing so, with the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, branding the decision “Groundhog Day” for clean athletes.

Wada’s athlete committee could now seek to appeal it at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, raising the prospect of two conflicting appeals there if Russia also tries to get it overturned.