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FIVB applauds 'clean' World Championship

2010-10-19 10:48 FIVB

Lausanne, Switzerland, October 18, 2010 – The FIVB confirmed on Monday that the FIVB Men's World Championship Italy 2010 received a clean bill of health from its FIVB Anti-Doping department.

A total of 318 players across 24 teams participated in the 17th edition of the FIVB Men's World Championship in Italy from September 25-October 10 and the FIVB was delighted to report that all 158 Anti-Doping tests pertaining to the tournament returned negative results.

Tests were conducted after every match with at least two players randomly selected to provide a sample according to International Standards for Testing (IST). The samples were then sent to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Rome which analysed the samples and provided results within 48 hours.

"Players have never been subjected to such in-depth testing ahead of a World Championship event as they were this year," said FIVB Executive Vice President Dr Amr M Elwani, who is responsible for FIVB medical matters. "We have to congratulate and thank the teams for their excellent cooperation with the FIVB Anti Doping programme, especially their professional attitude towards the FIVB Anti Doping education programme – We Play it Clean.

"These results prove that top performance in Volleyball can be achieved without the use of any prohibited substances or any other methods which contravene the true essence and spirit of sport."

More than half of the 150 tests were already conducted out of competition throughout the year and in the build-up to the tournament.

In order for the FIVB to be able to carry out such tests, all teams were requested to disclose their whereabouts via the Anti-Doping Administration System (ADAMS). This included individual information for those players nominated for a team who were not with the team for a certain reason or during a certain period of time. This way the FIVB was able to know where all 20* players from each of the 24 teams could be located throughout a period of six weeks prior to the start of the World Championship.

*Squad sizes for the FIVB Men's World Championship number 20 before the total number is cut to 14 and in some cases 12 prior to travelling to the event.

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