CNN —The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has commissioned an independent review into its handling of a doping case involving 23 Chinese swimmers after the organization said that it had been the subject of “damaging and baseless allegations.”The development comes after WADA was criticized by members of the anti-doping community, sparking a dispute which looks set to overshadow events in the pool at this year’s Olympics in Paris.
“We have no evidence of any sort of skullduggery or planting of trimetazidine,” Wenzel told reporters on Monday.
“In the past few days, WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favor of China by not appealing the CHINADA [China Anti-Doping Agency] case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” added Bańka.
Trimetazidine has the potential to boost endurance and has been banned by WADA since 2014.
WADA said that Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, attorney general of Vaud in Switzerland for 17 years until his retirement in 2022, will lead the review into the handling of the case.
Persons:
WADA, –, ”, Witold Bańka, “, Ross Wenzel, trimetazidine, ” Wenzel, Bańka, ” Bańka, Trimetazidine, CHINADA, Eric Cottier, USADA, WADA’s, ” WADA, Cottier
Organizations:
CNN, Doping Agency, New York Times, ARD, Tokyo Olympics, Sport, Xinhua
Locations:
Paris, China, trimetazidine, Swiss, Vaud, Switzerland