Indonesia confident WorldSBK, MotoGP will go ahead despite WADA ruling

Indonesia is confident its upcoming WorldSBK and MotoGP rounds at the new Mandalika circuit will not be affected by a recent WADA ruling of 'non-compliance'.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, familiar to MotoGP fans due to its role in Andrea Iannone's four-year ban, declared that five Anti-Doping Organizations have been  non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.

These included the National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADO) for Indonesia and Thailand, countries that are set to host MotoGP next season.

The potential significance in motorsport terms is that the 'consequences' of non-compliance include:

"The Signatories’ countries may not be awarded the right to host regional, continental or world championships, or events organized by Major Event Organizations, for the entire period of non-compliance."

It is unclear what this might mean for events already under contract, but the FIM Superbike World Championship is set to debut at Mandalika on November 19-21, followed by the inaugural FIM MotoGP World Championship event on March 18-20. Thailand has longer, with its next MotoGP event scheduled for October 2.

Another non-complicance sanction is that the flags of those countries 'will not be flown at regional, continental or world championships, or events... until reinstatement'. It is not clear if this also refers to the use of flags in TV graphics, for example.

Indonesia's non-compliance was, "a result of non-conformities in implementing an effective testing program". Thailand's verdict was due to, "the lack of full implementation of the 2021 version of the [WADA] Code within their legal system".

They were among eight Anti-Doping Organizations sent a formal notice of non-compliance on 15 September, with 21 days to respond. While three Anti-Doping Organizations subsequently provided enough evidence to avoid non-Compliance, it was not disputed by the other five.

"We are directly coordinating with the Indonesian anti-doping agency, where our position is said to be non-compliant," Zainudin Amali, Indonesia's Minister of Youth and Sport told a press briefing attended by Crash.net's Indonesian edition.

The Minister explained that the country's anti-doping testing had been interrupted by the Covid pandemic.

“Apparently, it refers to the sending of our samples… In March 2020, Covid-19 began to spread in Indonesia. There were no sports activities, so the planned samples were not fulfilled. Everything stopped and this caused us not to meet the requirements set by WADA."

However, he insisted: "Indonesia has not been banned so you can still do sports activities. So, please don't imagine that Indonesia cannot hold international competitions or send athletes abroad.

“This reprimand is a consequence of non-compliance, and now we are given the opportunity to clarify. Even though it is late, we are trying and WADA also gives time to provide a letter of clarification.”

According to WADA, 'Once a Signatory has been determined to be non-compliant, the objective is to help that Signatory to achieve Reinstatement as quickly as possible, while ensuring that the corrective actions undertaken deliver enduring Code Compliance by that Signatory.'

As part of that process, both Thailand and Indonesia should have received, 'the conditions that WADA considers the Signatory should have to satisfy in order to be Reinstated'.

The FIM and FIA are also signatories of the WADA Code.