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WADA to test players for World Baseball Classic

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 13:25 CDT

By Steve Keating

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Major League players taking part in next year's World Baseball Classic will face the same rigorous out-of-competition testing as Olympic athletes, the chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Monday.

However, while any player caught using performance enhancing drugs at the 16-nation World Cup style tournament faces a possible two-year ban from international competition, any sanctions will have no impact on their major league careers.

Major League Baseball drug penalties, which are far less harsh than those outlined in the World Anti-Doping code will also remain in place, including a 10-game ban for first time offenders.

"It's not a very good message but we're not going to be able to solve this problem in six months. We're going to keep at it," WADA chief Dick Pound said during a media briefing at the world swimming championships..

"We won't do in-competition testing. We'll do pre-championship out-of-competition testing."

By keeping the MLB's drug testing policy in place sluggers such as San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds and New York Yankees' Jason Giambi, who have been implicated in the BALCO steroid scandal, can compete for the U.S without fear of losing two years of their careers and millions of dollars in salaries.

If WADA penalties had been applied it is doubtful MLB would have been able to convince players to take part in the competition, which is scheduled for next March.

The World Cup has suddenly taken on added importance for MLB and the sport's international profile after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped baseball, along with softball, from the Olympic program during a vote earlier this month in Singapore.

One of the reasons given for dropping baseball was MLB's weak and ineffective drug-testing.

After continued criticism and intense pressure from the U.S. Congress, MLB commissioner Bud Selig has made moves to toughen baseball's drug-testing policies and penalties.

"That's part of the deal," said Pound. "When they put this competition together, that there would be international standards and not Major League Baseball, where you can hold up the liquor store five times before you get a meaningful (penalty)."

Source: REUTERS

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