Montreal (AFP) – The World Anti-Doping Agency on Friday revoked the accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center, another blow to Russia’s scandal-ridden athletics federation.
The lab had been suspended on November 10 as recommended in the independent commission report that laid bare evidence of state-sponsored doping and corruption in sport in the country.
A statement from WADA said the lab’s accreditation was revoked “due to non-compliance with the International Standard for Laboratories and the related Technical Documents.”
Since it’s suspension in November, the lab has been prohibited from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples.
“The revocation, which has been accepted by the Laboratory, will enter into force immediately and means that the Laboratory will continue to be prevented from carrying out the testing of doping control samples on behalf of WADA or any testing authority,” WADA said.
“The decision was taken by WADA’s Executive Committee following a thorough review of the status of the Laboratory by an independent WADA appointed Disciplinary Panel.”
The move comes as the Russian Athletics Federation, under new head Dmitry Shlyakhtin, is working to overturn a ban by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) over allegations of systematic doping that could see Russian track and field stars sidelined from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.
The WADA independent commission report published in November alleged that senior Russian federation officials enabled the use of performance-enhancing drugs and covered up doping violations, among other damning accusations.
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