Kenya wants no discrimination in new IAAF anti-doping rules

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Doping is a global threat and there should be no discrimination in the tough new anti-doping rules announced by the sport's governing IAAF at its council meeting in Buenos Aires last week, a senior Kenyan athletics official said Monday.

Under the rules approved by the International Association of Athletics Federations, Kenyan athletes will be at least one of the most competitive doping tests in the 10 months before a world championships or Olympics.

"The rigorous dope testing Kenyan athletes will be subjected to a disproportionate burden of the overwhelmingly clean run clean," Barnaba Korir, a member of Athletics Kenya's (AK) Executive Committee, told Reuters.

"It is a good idea to have a safe and secure world. "

Up to 50 Kenyan athletes have failed to compete in the past six years, among them 2016 Rio Olympics marathon champion Jemima Sumgong and form Olympic and three -time world 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Kiprop's case is with the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent body that deals with doping-related matters, which is next to London. [nL8N1TH2V7]

Under the new anti-doping rules announced on Friday, the IAAF has divided its membership into three categories which will have different obligations based on their success in athletics and the perceived risk of doping. [nL4N1UO01T]

Kenya is in Category A along with Eastern African rivals Ethiopia, Belarus and Ukraine, who have been described by the IAAF as "member of the Federations at the highest risk of doping."

Previously, obligations under the anti-doping code were focused mainly on members rather than member federations.

The AIU recommends the new regulations to the IAAF as a crucial step in protecting the integrity of sport.

The power to categorize members into one of the three groups will remain with the AIU board and the new rules will come into effect from 2019, a year before the Tokyo Olympics.

The AIU replaced the IAAF's anti-doping department in April last year and handles aspects including testing, intelligence and investigations related to misconduct within the sport.