An Olympic summit on Saturday backed a plan for the world's top sport court to take charge of sanctioning athletes who test positive for doping, withdrawing those duties from international sports federations. 

"Sanctions related to doping cases (are) to be delegated to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)," said a statement issued after an International Olympic Committee summit aimed at overhauling the anti-doping fight.

Sports federations previously had the primary role in deciding on punishments for those caught cheating, with athletes taking their case to CAS on appeal. 

In a conference call after the meeting, IOC president Thomas Bach noted that CAS was "already involved" in most doping cases through the appeals process. 

He has previously argued that giving CAS the primary role on deciding doping sanctions would increase transparency and consistency within the global anti-doping effort.