The suspension of China's national anti-doping laboratory has given next week's stage of the archery World Cup a major headache, the sport's chief Tom Dielen said on Friday. The laboratory in Beijing has been barred from carrying out World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-related tests such as blood and urine analysis for a maximum of four months.
That follows Thursday's move by WADA to suspend the doping centre's accreditation just 106 days ahead of the start of the Rio Olympics. The suspension poses major logistical problems for the archery World Cup competition beginning in Shanghai on April 26. "It falls very badly for us because we have this event in Shanghai," Dielen, the archery federation's secretary general, told AFP. "We're in the process of looking at what we can do as testing will be carried out," the Belgian added.
"We're in contact with CHINADA (the Chinese anti-doping agency). "We're going to have to send samples to Tokyo, Bangkok or I don't know where, but we have to find a solution." Despite the extra work Dielen backed WADA's intervention. "It's a good sign because all the laboratories must show that they respect the procedures.