\n<\/p>\n
The US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) says it “fully supports” the US government’s decision to withhold a payment of $3.6m (\u00a32.8m) to the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).<\/b><\/p>\n
It comes amid an ongoing dispute over the handling of a doping scandal involving Chinese swimmers.<\/p>\n
It emerged in April that 23 swimmers from the country<\/a> were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, despite testing positive for a banned substance months earlier.<\/p>\n Usada chief executive Travis Tygart said defaulting on the payment was “the only right choice to protect athletes’ rights, accountability and fair competition”.<\/p>\n In a statement he added that Wada “left the US with no other option after failing to deliver on several very reasonable requests, such as an independent audit of [its] operations, to achieve the transparency and accountability needed”.<\/p>\n The global anti-doping agency responded by saying representatives from the US would now be ineligible to sit on its foundation board or executive committee.<\/p>\n In April, Wada said it was “not in a position to disprove” an assertion from the China Anti-Doping Agency that they had unintentionally ingested heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ), which can enhance performance. <\/p>\n That sparked an outcry from Western anti-doping agencies and athletes, with Usada suggesting a cover up, a claim Wada rejected as “completely false and defamatory”. <\/p>\n