Qatar is set to establish the first specialised anti-doping laboratory in the region aimed at serving athletes from across the Gulf region and the whole of West Asia.

Anti Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ) is behind the new facility coming up in Doha’s Aspire Zone. It will offer anti-doping test and conduct research into the use of prohibited substances, test-development, and other issues on drug use in sports, said a top official.

With the support of the Qatar Olympic Committee, the facility is also expected to offer free anti doping testing for countries in the region that cannot afford it, Dr Mohammed Al Maadheed, director general of ADLQ, said.

“We are very excited about this project and its implications for Qatar and the region. Athletes in Qatar will benefit from the laboratory’s activities, which will ensure fair and honest competition and protect their health.'

'Furthermore, the testing provided at our facility, accompanied by our ongoing research program, will significantly advance the wider struggle to eliminate drug use in sports and promote healthy and drug-free athletics,' he added.

The ADLQ facility, Dr Al Maadheed said, will be the first anti-doping laboratory to be established in West Asia, and the second to be established in the entire Middle East region.

'The project will be completed in four years and, in order to uphold Olympic standards of fair play and avoid any conflict of interest, the laboratory will operate independent of Qatar’s existing sporting agencies, under its own governing structure,' he explained. 

The Anti Doping Lab Qatar project, with encouragement from the GCC summit in December 2007 in Doha, is driving the country’s rise to leadership in the region’s anti-doping field.

By 2012, the Anti Doping Lab Qatar will join the elite group of labs accredited by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). There are only thirty five labs around the world that are currently Wada-accredited, and this international accreditation will help to make Qatar much better host for future international sporting events, Dr Al Maadheed added.-TradeArabia News Service