If there were no sanctions, IADO might not progress much...
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency (LADI) has officially changed its name to Indonesian Anti-Doping Organization (IADO) after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revoked its sanctions on the national institution.

The sanctions were a valuable lesson for IADO to reform the organization, Head of IADO Musthofa Fauzi said at the Youth and Sports Ministry’s headquarters in Jakarta on Friday.

"It increased awareness on the anti-doping mechanism. If there were no sanctions, IADO might not progress much, both regarding its legal aspect and recognition from the national sports community," he added.

After the sanctions were imposed, IADO began to improve its organizational governance, he noted.

Furthermore, the organization head also emphasized the importance of support from the government and various sports stakeholders in creating a clean, professional, modern, independent, and WADA-compliant national anti-doping institution.

He said that during a limited meeting with President Joko Widodo and Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali, the organization received support from the President for making fundamental changes and transformations.

“We worked together with all parties, including members of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, to improve to make national anti-doping management meet WADA’s requirements," he added.

WADA officially lifted the sanctions imposed on IADO on February 3, 2022, through a statement on its official website.

"Following the approval of the Executive Committee, the WADA has removed, with immediate effect, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADO) of Indonesia and Thailand from the list of signatories that are non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code," the statement said.

Related news: WADA's sanction to be revoked at start of February: KOI

The international agency noted that the two countries had fulfilled their obligations to regain their compliance status.

Previously, on September 14, 2021, the WADA Executive Committee had decided that IADO did not comply with the World Anti-Doping Code since the national organization did not meet the minimum annual doping test requirements.

The sanctions came into effect on October 7, 2021, after IADO did not object to the decision. Initially, the sanctions were to be imposed for one year.

Related news: Indonesia starts formulating doping test planning for 2022

Translator: Shofi Ayudiana, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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