The President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Vitold Banka, in the framework of the Council of the organization, spoke about the current position of the organization on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
Earlier on Friday, Banka was re-elected president of the organization. He will continue to lead the agency for the next three years. Elections were held in Montreal (Canada). In December 2019, WADA stripped RUSADA of its compliance status, accusing the Russian side of manipulating doping samples at the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory (LIMS) base. In June 2021, RUSADA received from WADA a plan to restore compliance status with the World Anti-Doping Code. The plan is to be implemented by December 16, 2022. Initially, it was a four-year suspension, but RUSADA did not agree with these WADA decisions. The case was transferred to CAS and in December 2020 the court reduced the suspension to two years.
“The coronavirus pandemic has not been the only major challenge we have had to face. In December 2020, a year after WADA’s Executive Committee decided to denounce RUSADA, CAS issued its final verdict on the matter. Although the court confirmed all the evidence we provided, the level of sanctions that the CAS finally determined, in the first place their duration, surprised us very unpleasantly.
I have emphasized this several times. Once the decision was made, WADA began a very laborious and costly process of monitoring RUSADA’s compliance with the conditions. We will ensure that the sanction (which is softer than we wanted) is applied in full to RUSADA, Banka told WADA’s Founders’ Council.
Banka has served as WADA President since January 1, 2020.
Source : MatchTV
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