Tashkent, Uzbekistan: The Secretary General of the Uzbekistan Olympic Committee, Oybek Kasimov, gave the official address at the opening ceremony of the 2013 annual activities of the Regional Anti-Doping Organization Central Asia (RADOCA) that took place in the Grand Mir Hotel from May 29-31. The event included the RADO Board meeting and the Doping Control Officers Workshop.
In his speech, Mr Kasimov emphasized the importance of eradicating doping in sport and pointed out that the NOC of Uzbekistan was working closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Central Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADOCA) to lay the foundations for an independent National Anti-Doping Organization that meets a higher level of standards, norms and proficiency.
WADA was represented by Mr Tom May, Senior Manager in the Program Development department, Mr Kazuhiro Hayashi, Director of Asia/ Oceania Regional Office, and Ms Chihi Miki, Coordinator of the Asia/Oceania Regional Office. Ms Nadiah Al Shamali, Manager of the Doping Control Department in the Olympic Council of Asia, participated as an observer.
The election process took place during the RADO Board meeting and resulted in the appointment of its chairperson, Ms Maira Bakasheva (Kazakhstan), and the vice-chairperson, Dr. Waqar Ahmed (Pakistan). The meeting heard updates on the national anti-doping programmes in each member country; the outcome of the 2012 action plan was reviewed and the 2013 action plan was discussed and approved among the member countries.
WADA introduced its recent activities including the review of the World Anti-Doping Code, the proposed RADO Testing Grant for 2013, the announcement of the World Conference on Doping in Sport in November 2013 in Johannesburg and a review of the results management process.
In addition, the UNESCO Convention ratification was brought into the discussion. WADA has strongly encouraged those member countries who have not ratified the UNESCO Convention to undertake the necessary steps to ratify it so that they will be eligible to apply for UNESCO Voluntary Fund. OCA introduced its upcoming Games, noting that the Independent Asian Doping Control Officers Exchange Programme is still ongoing.
Five DCOs from the Regional Anti-Doping Organizations (RADOs) have been invited to take part in sample collection processes during the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games at Incheon; Korea, from June 29 to July 6, and another seven DCOs are invited from RADOs and NADO to participate in the 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, this August.
In parallel with that, 16 participants from the member countries and one participant from OCA, Ms Elena Chakarova, actively participated in the DCOs training workshop, which is the first step towards being accredited and certified. The Workshop was delivered by trainers from the United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD), Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) and the National Anti-Doping Centre of Kazakhstan.
The Central Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organization was established in 2006 and is based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It includes Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
