Anti-doping lab in Thailand shut downSwimmer Sun Yang from China is seen on a video screen as he speaks during a public hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Montreux, Switzerland, on Friday. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)MONTREAL: The only authorised anti-doping laboratory in Southeast Asia has been forced to suspend operations, leaving a gap in coverage for much of the region. The World Anti-Doping Agency has ruled the National Doping Control Centre in Thailand can't test samples for up to six months because of "non-conformities'' found during inspections. Shipping substances long distances generally means higher costs for national anti-doping agencies. The Bangkok lab tested 3,429 samples in 2017, the last year for which statistics are available, ranking it among the world's smaller facilities.

Source: Bangkok Post November 21, 2019 11:03 UTC