World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) President-elect Witold Bańka pledged on Thursday to be tough on Russia if the country is proven to have manipulated the doping data of its athletes.
The Polish Tourism and Sports Minister, who was officially appointed as the next WADA president on Thursday, will take over his post on January 1.
"I start my term of office next year… I am waiting for the results of the analyses. If we discover some manipulations the reaction should be tough," Bańka told a news conference.
For more than four years, Russia has been the focus of several investigations and sanctions after a 2015 WADA-commissioned report highlighted a vast doping network in the country's sports community.
Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA was suspended after a 2015 WADA report which found vast evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics. The country has since struggled to restore its international credibility in sport.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Getty Images