Date:13/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/13/stories/2006121309382000.htm

Sport - Sports : General

A shot in the arm for WADA

MONTREAL: The World Anti-Doping Agency added the 30th country it needed to ratify a global treaty against drug use in sports when Luxembourg agreed to sign.

Adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in October 2005, the treaty is considered an essential step in providing the mechanism for governments to accept the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code, approved in Copenhagen in March 2003.

WADA President Dick Pound said in a statement that the International Convention Against Doping in Sport has the 30 countries it needs to take effect in February.

The other countries that ratified the treaty are: Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Bahamas, Bolivia, Canada, Jamaica, Peru, China, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Britain, Australia, Cook Islands, Nauru and New Zealand.

The lower house of the Russian parliament on Friday endorsed the anti-doping treaty, but it still needs approval from the upper house and President Vladimir Putin's signature. — AP