Kenya to continue anti-doping tests for Olympic team despite virus threat

NAIROBI: Kenya has set aside 17 million shillings (170,000 U.S. dollars) towards the fight against doping for the national team preparing for the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games.

Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) chief executive officer Japhter Rugut said this is a part of the plan to win the fight against the scourge, which has left the country facing a backlash over the huge number of tests that have come back positive and left over 60 athletes banned from competition.

"We have a budget to fight doping in the country and we are winning this war, though it will never go away completely. We have 170,000 dollars for the Olympic program while we had 2.6 million dollars for the Doha World Athletics Championships last year," Rugut said, Xinhua news agency reports.

ADAK has so far conducted 4116 tests in the four years since their inception, of which 3552 are urine samples while 545 were blood tests to help root out doping. This has yielded 120 positive cases, which have led to several athletes being sanctioned.

However, last week, World Athletics (WA) President Sebastian Coe acknowledged they are facing huge challenges in fighting doping within the sport owing to restricted movement in countries across the globe.

Coe, speaking to reporters, said despite challenges brought by COVID-19, the World Anti-Doping Agency and Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), who are in charge of the testing, will not relent. IANS