WADA suspends Bogota laboratory for non-compliance

[February 22, 2017]  (Reuters) - Bogota's anti-doping laboratory has had its accreditation suspended for up to six months after it failed to comply with international standards, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Tuesday.

The suspension, which began on Monday, prohibits the lab from carrying out any anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples, WADA said in a statement.

According to WADA, the suspension was due to analytical issues, which led to a failure to comply with the global anti-doping body's External Quality Assessment Scheme.

During the ban, samples must be sent to another WADA-accredited laboratory, "ensuring that athletes can have full confidence in continued high quality sample analysis and the wider anti-doping system."

The Bogota laboratory has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)

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A woman walks into the head office of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada November 9, 2015. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo