WADA gives Kenya May 2 anti-doping law deadline

Kenya were on Thursday given a new deadline of May 2 by the World Anti-Doping Agency to implement WADA's code or risk missing out on the Rio Olympics.

A second WADA deadline expired on Tuesday with Kenyan lawmakers having failed to pass a bill criminalising sports doping. Kenya had already missed a February 11 deadline.

"Unless the bill, policy and ADAK's (Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya) rules are formally adopted by 2 May 2016, the Compliance Review Committee's recommendation to the WADA Foundation Board will be to declare the ADAK non-compliant," WADA said in a statement.

Kenya had been placed on a 'watch-list' of nations at risk of breaching its code and given until April 5 to prove it was tackling drug taking in sport.

Kenyan lawmakers held a preliminary reading of the bill criminalising sports doping, but the country's parliament went on a month-long recess last week without approving the legislation.

The bill is intended to save Kenyan athletes from an Olympics ban threatened by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Sebastian Coe.

"As a result of failing to meet the requirements within the deadline, the matter was referred to WADA's independent Compliance Review Committee for their review," WADA's statement read.

"The Compliance Review Committee met on 5 April to discuss the outstanding issues related to the implementation of the 2015 Code in the Kenyan legal system.

"The Committee concluded that the current situation is not in compliance with the 2015 Code, since the bill, policy and ADAK rules have not yet been formally adopted."

WADA added that a vote would be taken on the matter at its next meeting in Montreal on May 12.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday expressed his hope that athletes from the east African track giants would compete at the August Olympics despite doubts over the country's anti-doping legislation.

Kenyatta said that his country needed more time to pass a robust anti-doping law and avoid a threatened Olympics ban.

An IAAF decision on Russia, currently banned from world athletics over allegations of systematic doping, will also be taken in May.
Source: AFP