BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The investment in anti-doping was not enough in the big-monied world sport, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical chief Arne Ljungqvist here on Thursday.

Ljungqvist, on a visit to the Chinese capital for a follow-up of the Beijing Olympic Games health legacy, said the anti-doping fight was not expensive, on the contrary, the investment was small.

"Anti doping is not expensive if compared to the amount of money circulating in the world sport. It is a small fraction, a peanut," said the Swede.

He estimated that about 250,000 tests conducted world wide each year with around 700 U.S. dollars spent on each test, which put the total amount of money at 175 million U.S. dollars.

And the annual budget for the World Anti-Doping Agency was about 25 million dollars, said the WADA vice president.

He said big sports stars' salaries can easily beat WADA's budget.

"If you compare what an NHL team was paid for one season (with the investment in anti doping), it is peanut," he said.

The National Hockey League last year raised the salary cap so each team could spend as much as 56.7 million U.S. dollars on player salaries.

Ljungqvist said more countries and regions are aware of the importance for anti doping but their investment was not enough.

"Since doping is such a serious problem, you could be surprised that not more money is put into the fight," he said.

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