Polish minister enters race to lead World Anti Doping Agency

PARIS – Poland's Sports Minister Witold Banka has told AFP he is running for the presidency of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2019 and will seek unity between federations and governments to create a more effective platform. 

Banka said WADA needed to bring sports federations and government bodies closer together to tackle contemporary challenges, notably how to handle the Russian doping scandal. 

He also defended his plan for an independent fund to sustain countries where the anti-doping system is weak, paid for by governments, sports bodies and sponsors. 

"One very important point is a strong cooperation between stakeholders. Only together we can make WADA stronger," said the former sprinter. 

Britain's Craig Reedie is the current incumbent and has a sports background, so WADA's policy of alternating their presidency between those with sports and those with politics backgrounds means Banka is very much in the frame. 

Also in the frame is Norwegian conservative MP and Minister of Children and Equality Linda Helleland. She is the current WADA number two and she and Banka are so far the only two candidates for control of the Montreal-based foundation originally established by the Olympic Committee. The 33-year-old Banka has been in government in Poland since 2015 and is currently Minister for Sport and Tourism. 

He is calling for a new approach to the thorny question of doping in Russia, where the government was singled out in the 2015 McLaren report for state-sponsored doping programme and the country's own anti-doping agency (RUSADA) was suspended. 

Russia has rejected the conclusions of the McLaren report but must agree to those findings before WADA lifts sanctions against RUSADA. For Banka that approach has led to statemate. "We need a long-term solution for Russia as it seems that we have already reached a dead end," he told AFP. 

"We have to be 100% convinced that the Russian anti-doping system is reliable again before we even think about reinstating RUSADA," he insisted. 

"We need to agree on a new set of conditions for reinstatement of RUSADA, more operational, measurable and objective." But Banka said his main concern was to set up a balanced dope testing regime across world sport. 

"My priority is to enhance the establishment of more WADA-accredited laboratories worldwide, including in Europe," he said. "It should result in the overall increase in sample collection and a decrease in the costs of doping controls," said the former 400m sprinter. 
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