The Rio de Janeiro anti-doping lab, which was suspended June 24 for “non-conformity” with global standards – one in a series of embarrassing setbacks in Brazil’s preparations for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics – is now expected to be re-accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency in time for the start of the Games, according to Brazil’s sports minister.
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Brazil’s sports minister on Thursday said a problem that caused a suspension last month of an anti-doping lab in Rio de Janeiro has been corrected and that officials expect its accreditation to be renewed in time for the Olympics next month.
Raul Jungmann said that a rash of armed robberies and deadly shootings on busy thoroughfares in recent weeks had prompted Rio de Janeiro state Governor Francisco Dornelles to ask the military for more help keeping the Olympic and Paralympic Games safe.
With two Olympic parks (one in Barra, and in Deodoro) the Rio 2016 games will be played out in 32 venues across four zones in Rio de Janeiro, plus in five football co-host cities. A WADA spokesman did not immediate respond to messages seeking to conform Picciani’s claim. Brazil has been the hardest hit of the approximately 60 countries that have reported an outbreak of Zika.
“We can guarantee, as has the World Health Organization (WHO), that there is nearly no risk of cases of the Zika virus occurring during the Games”, he said in a statement on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
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National unrest. Interim president Michel Temer took over in May as President Dilma Roussef awaits an impeachment trial, and there is also a serious economic recession taking place in Brazil.
