Anti-doping agency needs money

THE Papua New Guinea Sports Anti-Doping Organisation (PNGSado) says it needs government funding to meet Wada Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) requirements or risk omission from major events such as next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Wada recognises PNGSado as the official body responsible for anti-doping activities in the country following its establishment in 2006.
“The PNG government ratified the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) International Convention or Treaty against doping in sports in 2009 which commits it to make ongoing contribution in the fight against doping, not just financially but also through education, legislation, information sharing and other activities,” said a statement from PNGSado chairman Dr Bernie Amof.
“Since then, PNGSado has made limited progress in developing its organisational capacity, improving its programme service delivery and strengthening its partnerships with key stakeholders due to funding constrains and fulltime personnel.
“Collaboration between national Olympic committees and governments is the key to enable us to have any chance of eradicating doping in sport.
“(PNG Kumuls hooker) James Segeyaro (was banned by the National Rugby League) for using Ligandrol (LGD-4033) for muscle mass increasing properties that don’t come with the common steroidal side effects which makes it so popular with bodybuilders and athletes.
“Female 86kg powerlifter Meteng Wak 86kg, gold medalist at 2011 New Caledonia Pacific Games, was denied for using Probenecid to delay excretion of penicillin she was taking for a known medical condition despite warning by PNGSado staff for personal reasons.
“These two incidences highlight the need for funding commitment in the 2020 budget to formally establish the anti-doping agency to deliver its core activities to avoid drastic consequences of not meeting our obligations as a signatory to the Unesco Convention.
“I call on the sports minister and prime minister to refer to a submission which was delivered in 2017 to capture 2018 and 2019 budget funding with no commitments.
“Copies were presented to the sports vice-minister, PNG Sports Foundation, PNG Sports Foundation board, foreign affairs minister (because of the Unesco treaty), PNG Commission for Unesco Office, deputy prime minister and the PNG Olympic Committee.”
Amof said in 2016, Wada had introduced two online monitoring toolkits for all signatories.
“PNGSado submitted a questionnaire in June 2017 to the code compliance review committee and 12 months later, our code action review indicated areas of non-conformities which were categorised into three groups with timelines of three, six and nine months to complete,” he said. “The completion and resubmission due dateline was in March and we are now nine months overdue with no work done as most of the activities require funding to complete.
“The revised consequences or sanctions state that a country which does not complete the questionnaire or a country that does not achieve a 60 per cent compliance bench mark with the questionnaire will be deemed non-compliant.
“The government must now provide the required resources to enable PNGSADO complete a code action plan and resubmit for review, and achieve the 60 per cent compliance benchmark or we don’t participate in the coming major events as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.”