WADA lifts ban on Rio anti-doping lab

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has lifted a ban on a drug-test laboratory here, allowing the facility to test athletes during next month's Olympic Games.

The Brazilian doping control laboratory, or LBCD, as it is known, was stripped of its credentials in June based on its "non-conformity" with WADA standards, reports Xinhua.

In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Montreal-based body did not explain what the lab did to recover its license to operate.

"Athletes can be confident that anti-doping sample analysis has been robust throughout the laboratory's suspension and that it will also be during the Games," WADA director general Olivier Niggli said.

WADA had previously said that blood and urine samples taken from athletes during the August 5-21 Rio Olympics would be analyzed at accredited laboratories outside Brazil.

LBCD was also stripped of its WADA accreditation before the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil. The suspension was lifted in May last year after the laboratory invested 60 million US dollars to upgrade equipment and train staff.

--IANS

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