WADA chief Banka threatens US and USADA with isolation over doping conflict
The President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Witold Bańka threatened the United States with isolation in the sports sphere. His words are quoted by RIA Novosti.
The head of WADA addressed the United States and the country’s Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) during a session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Paris. He said that if a conflict develops over the doping case of Chinese swimmers, the country could be isolated from the international arena, which would lead to serious consequences for American sports.
“USADA said that this investigation is open because WADA cannot be trusted. And this is not only a betrayal of WADA, but also a demonstration of how USADA interprets the laws,” said Banka. He called such actions unacceptable.
On April 20, it became known that in January 2021, the banned drug trimetazidine was found in samples from 23 Chinese swimmers. China said traces of the drug were found in the kitchen of the hotel where the athletes were staying. WADA considered that there was no evidence of doping, so the swimmers were allowed to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
USADA CEO Travis Tygart accused WADA and the Chinese agency CHINADA of concealing information. Later, the US questioned the independence of the prosecutor appointed to investigate the case.
Source: Lenta
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