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Polish anti-doping agency celebrates 5th anniversary

21.12.2022 16:30
The Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA), which aims to fight drug cheats in sports, is celebrating its fifth anniversary.
Audio
Witold Bańka
Witold BańkaPAP/Andrzej Grygiel

Founded in 2017, the agency has over the years become one of the most dynamically developing and effective organizations caring for clean sport in the world, according to officials

The agency's accomplishments include thousands of trained athletes and samples taken, hundreds of anti-doping proceedings and investigations conducted, officials said.

POLADA employs 40 anti-doping inspectors, who performed nearly 3,000 inspections and collected nearly 14,000 samples, revealing 143 cases of anti-doping rule violations between July 2017 and May 2022.

"I think that together with our stakeholders, athletes and governments, we have achieved a lot," said Witold Bańka, a former Polish sports minister who is now head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Bańka told Radio Poland's Klaudiusz Madeja: "As an anti-doping system, WADA is in a completely different place now. We have tools, we have good collaboration with law enforcement, with Europol, with Interpol. I am proud of the outcome."

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