NDTL suspension to stay for now

National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) was first suspended by WADA in August 2019 due to non-conformities with the ISL identified during a WADA site visit.

WADA is in contact with the NDTL in an effort to ensure these corrective actions are implemented as quickly as possible. (File Photo)

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has said that the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) accreditation cannot be reinstated now as the New Delhi-based lab is yet to satisfy WADA over several corrective actions.

NDTL’s second six-month suspension ended on January 17.

“However, a number of required corrective actions still have not been satisfactorily addressed and so, under the terms of the International Standard for Laboratories (ISL), the laboratory’s accreditation cannot be reinstated at this time. WADA is in contact with the NDTL in an effort to ensure these corrective actions are implemented as quickly as possible,” WADA’s media relations and communications manager James Fitzgerald told Sportstar in an email.

“The suspension prohibits the NDTL from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples.”

NDTL was first suspended by WADA in August 2019 due to non-conformities with the ISL identified during a WADA site visit.

“In February 2020, when the six-month suspension period elapsed and some outstanding non-conformities had not been addressed successfully, WADA’s Laboratory Expert Group (LabEG) recommended the initiation of further disciplinary proceedings against the laboratory based on the outstanding non-conformities.

“These disciplinary proceedings were carried out by an independent Disciplinary Committee that was mandated to make a recommendation to the Chair of the WADA Executive Committee regarding the status of the NDTL’s accreditation, while the laboratory remained suspended. The second six-month suspension began on July 17, 2020 and elapsed on January 17, 2021,” elaborated Fitzgerald.