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Kenya want anti-doping extension

Kenya have called for extra time to show WADA they have cleaned up their athletics program.

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Source: AAP


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Kenya want two more months to show the global anti-doping agency it has cleaned up their athletics, hoping to avoid the risk of being barred from this year's Olympics.

Kenya, a world beater in long-distance running, missed a WADA deadline last week to implement regulations in a country where some 40 athletes have been banned for doping in the last three years.

Sports Minister Hassan Wario said he was confident WADA would agree a two-month extension to enable Kenya to pass legislation and launch a fully operational anti-doping agency.

"Have we had anything from WADA? We haven't. But normally there is a window of two months' extension, which we hope to capitalise on once we get it," Wario told a news conference in Nairobi.

A top Kenyan athletics official said on Thursday that the IAAF, itself under pressure to get tougher on doping, was planning to ban Kenya from the Rio Games so "the world will understand how serious they are".

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The IAAF could enact a ban if WADA declared Kenya non-compliant with its rules.

WADA spokesman Ben Nichols said the organisation's Independent Compliance Review Committee was due to make recommendations on Kenya in the coming days.


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