Russian anti-doping boss charges his country's "sports authorities"

Katowice (Poland) (AFP)

Russian anti-doping boss Yuri Ganous on Wednesday hailed the "destructive and irresponsible actions" of his country's "sporting authorities" suspected of having trafficked data handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). an international conference in Katowice (Poland).

The anti-doping agency Rusada has "become hostage to the crisis caused by the destructive and irresponsible actions of the sports authorities" during the transfer of these control data from the former Moscow laboratory, said the Director General of Rusada, Yuri Ganous, in front of hundreds of officials gathered at the Fifth World Conference on Doping in Sport.

Among them was Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, who had spoken earlier to say that Rusada and the Russian authorities had met all the requirements of WADA.

Yuri Ganous, who repeatedly criticized the sports authorities in his country, reiterated that Rusada "had nothing to do with the database" and its transfer and asked WADA to take it into account and to use "wisdom" in its sanctions to protect the "independence" of national anti-doping agencies.

WADA opened a new case against Rusada, after finding "inconsistencies" in the millions of anti-doping data it requested and obtained from Moscow in early 2019. Handing over the data was a condition for lifting a previous suspension imposed by the AMA in Rusada, because of the institutional doping scandal set up in the country at least between 2011 and 2015.

Now, WADA has new regulations that could allow it to impose sports sanctions on Russia, and Yuri Ganous told AFP two weeks ago his fears of exclusion at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2020. Such sanctions, which could come before the end of the year, would probably be reviewed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

"Nobody should use us for his personal interests (...) We will protect our independence," said Yuri Ganous, who has awakened the studious and cozy atmosphere of this international meeting, and whose speech was applauded .

© 2019 AFP