More cash to aid fight against the cheats

UK Anti-doping has been given an additional £6.1million of public money to catch drugs cheats and promote clean sport in the run-up to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

This represents an almost 50 per cent increase in the government’s contribution to the agency’s total annual budget, which is almost £8m now but will rise to at least £11m.

The additional funding is the main headline from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s tenmonth “tailored review” of Ukad’s performance.

In a statement, UK sports minister Tracey Crouch said: “We must do all we can to make sure sport is free from doping and that players and fans are confident there is a level playing field. This additional funding will help us take the fight even harder to those trying to cheat by doping.

“It will also help educate people at all levels of sport about the dangers of image and performance-enhancing drugs and maintain Ukad’s standing as one of the leading anti-doping agencies in the world.”

As well as its grant, Ukad also raises its own revenues by doing additional drug-testing for governing bodies and major events, and from consultancy work abroad. But the agency has endured a difficult year at home, with expensive investigations into British Cycling, Team Sky and boxer Tyson Fury failing to land clean punches.

This is likely to be highlighted in an upcoming report on doping by the DCMS select committee.