The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said today it had suspended the accreditation of the athletes' doping control laboratory in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for four months.
The suspension, which took effect on Wednesday, prohibits the laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples, WADA said in a statement.
"The decision to suspend the laboratory is a direct result of the more stringent quality assessment procedures enacted by WADA to ensure laboratories maintain the highest standards," WADA added.
During the period of suspension, "samples are required to be transported securely to another WADA-accredited laboratory, ensuring that athletes can have full confidence in continued high quality sample analysis and the wider anti-doping system".
The Almaty laboratory has 21 days to appeal the WADA decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
