By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--The Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization, the Philippine Sports Commission's anti-doping arm, has disputed the World Anti-Doping Agency's initial decision to deem them "non-compliant" with the present world anti-doping code.
WADA announced on Wednesday that PHI-NADO submitted a formal notification of its dispute just at the Tuesday deadline.
"WADA will now refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for its consideration. As such, the consequences will not apply until CAS makes its ruling," WADA said in a statement.
This means, at least for now, Filipino athletes could still use the name "Philippines" as their representation in international sports competitions unless CAS rules that PHINADO still failed to resolve some crucial rulings that should be aligned with WADA's code.
According to WADA, PHI-NADO "did not resolve a number of critical non-conformities as identified from WADA's Code Compliance Questionnaire exercise."
As of Jan. 26, the PSC said that PHI-NADO was working on "certain revisions relating to critical requirements of the code."
The Philippines is at risk of being barred from waving its flag in international events, which could be a huge stumbling block as it looks to celebrate 100 years of Olympic participation this year in Paris.
Filipino athletes may still be allowed to join, but they cannot play under the "Philippines" tag, although they can play under the Philippine Olympic Committee.
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