GCC, Yemen anti-doping meeting begins

MUSCAT: In cooperation with the World Anti-doping Agency (Wada), the meeting of the Board of Directors of Gulf States and Yemen Regional Anti-Doping Organisation begins here on Wednesday.

The two-day meeting will be hosted by the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) represented by Oman Anti-Doping Committee. Sayyid Khalid bin Hamad al Busaidi, OOC Chairman, will preside over the opening ceremony.

The 16th meeting of the Board of Directors of Gulf States & Yemen Regional Anti-Doping Organisation will be chaired by Dr Sultan bin Yarub al Busaidi, Rado and OADC Chairman, in the presence of the members the Board of Directors of Gulf States & Yemen Regional Anti-Doping Organisation, namely: Dr Mohammed bin Saleh al Konbaz, Vice-Chairman, Nadia bint Ali al Shamaliya, Secretary-General, Nasser bin Ali al Ansari, member, Dr Rima al Hosaniya, member, Dr Khalid bin Abdulaziz, member and Aziz bin Khalid bin Ahmed, member. In addition to the presence of Professor Kamal bin Abdul Hamid bin Khalaf al Hadidi, Chairman of the Anti-Doping Organisation for West Asia, and a number of members of the International Anti-Doping Agency namely: Tom May, Director Programme Development of Nado/Rado Relations, Kazuhiro Hayashi, Director of Wada Asia Oceania/ Regional Office, and Ieva Lukosite, Senior Manager.

During the meeting, a new president will be elected for the next two years and will be updated on the activities of Rado (Regional Anti-doping Organisation), as well as the tasks of the national anti-doping committees. Other agendas include the future of the anti-doping programme in the region, reviewing the draft anti-doping law to be adopted in 2021 and discussing its alignment with national anti-doping committees.

There will also be open discussion sessions between Wada and representatives of Nados (National Anti-doping Organisations) in the Gulf and Yemen.

The participants will meet Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs, to discuss further cooperation with the Sultanate.

The Sultanate had hosted the last meeting of Rado last year where the participants decided to postpone the presidential elections to the meeting to be held on Thursday, and decided that Dr Sultan bin Yarub al Busaidi would remain as the chairman and Dr Saleh al Qanbaz as Vice-President and the headquarters to be in Kuwait.