Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Thursday 28 November 2019

In this May 6, 2015, file photo , LPGA commissioner Mike Whan
speaks during a press conference at The Players Championship
golf tournament in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Associated Press

Ladies European

In this May 24, 2016, file photo, lab technicians work at Russia's national drug-testing laboratory Tour approves joint
in Moscow, Russia.
Associated Press
Doping report obtained by AP venture with LPGA

shows depths of Russia cover-up By DOUG FERGUSON sanctioned by the LPGA
AP Golf Writer
Tour.
The Ladies European Tour Whan said last week be-
By EDDIE PELLS bolevsky, at the now-infa- gave for the discrepancies approved a plan to part- fore leaving for Spain the
AP National Writer mous Moscow antidoping — among them, system ner with the LPGA Tour with merger is not a takeover.
The Russians were running lab. malfunctions and routine hopes of expanding the The LPGA and LET each
out of time. Experts from the In fact, the original mes- space-clearing operations women's game in Europe would have six members
World Anti-Doping Agency sages were to Sobolevsky that occurred at the begin- and beyond. on the board.
were heading to Moscow from a key Russian wit- ning of every year — each The tours keep their identi- "And all proceeds stay in
to finally receive the trove ness and purveyor of the of which is incisively batted ties in the 50-50 joint ven- Europe — can't take any
of data they'd been seek- plot, Evgeny Kudryavtsev. down by the WADA team ture. dollars out," Whan said.
ing for two years. Those simply said "OK," of investigators, who went Players from the LET will not "We can put money into
Instead of getting ready to and "Tim, we will soon be to painstaking lengths to have immediate access to the LET, but we can't take
hand it over, Russian au- giving it." Kudryavtsev has conduct forensic research the LPGA Tour, although money back out, which
thorities stayed busy in a called Rodchenkov, who on 23 million megabytes of LPGA Tour Commissioner I asked my board to sup-
round-the-clock endeavor lives in hiding in the United data. Regarding the forged Mike Whan said last week port. I want to make sure
to keep changing, delet- States, a liar. Rodchenkov messages, the investigators that it could lead to that. the European Tour players
ing and manipulating the was not part of the original drew a forceful conclusion: For now, he says top LET know that this is not some
data. Granular details exchange. The doctored The Russians were so fo- players would have access American growth strategy."
of the plot are sprinkled message was one of thou- cused on altering the mes- to the LPGA's "Q-Series" of Whan said a strong tour in
throughout WADA's previ- sands of manipulations that sages that made them look two tournaments in con- Europe is good for the LPGA
ously confidential 89-page were concocted long after the worst that they scoured secutive weeks with cumu- and golf around the world.
report, obtained by The As- Russia had agreed to hand through 11,227 of the ex- lative scoring that awards He referred to the LPGA's
sociated Press. over the data in its original changes to "identify and LPGA cards. own mission statement that
Among the most brazen form. In fact, Russia was delete 25 highly inculpa- LET members voted to ap- he said was "to provide
projects, the report says, doctoring files as late as tory messages." prove the partnership Tues- women the opportunity to
was the rewriting of memos Jan. 16, 2019, while WADA's "They therefore planted day night at a meeting in pursue their dreams in the
to make it look as though team was already in the fabricated evidence into Spain. game of golf."
the man who exposed the building, one day away the 2019 ... database that "Two teams, joining for one "As I said to our board, I
plot was leveraging the from leaving Moscow with would allow them to blame common purpose, will cre- don't see a boundary or a
Russian doping scheme the now-sullied data in tow. those discrepancies on ate opportunities we simply fence around that state-
to line his own pockets. The details of the decep- Dr Rodchenkov, Dr Sobo- could not have pursued ment," Whan said. "Our
The rewrites were also de- tion, portrayed by WADA in- levsky" and another worker, on our own," said Marta founders would have done
signed to eliminate any vestigators as the "smoking the report said. "Such bad Figueras-Dotti, chair of the it if they would have had
record that one of Russia's gun" in the Russian manipu- faith is indeed stunning, LET. "At its foundation, this this ability, so why shouldn't
own key defense witnesses lation case, are included in and ... it provides a lens joint venture is about cre- we?"
in the case had done any- the report, which spells out through which the expla- ating opportunities for our Key to the venture is pro-
thing wrong. the ways Russia reworked nations offered by the Rus- members to pursue their viding a path to the LPGA
"Treat all the files the same, data that was supposed to sian authorities for the fol- passion, and their careers Tour, which attracts the
and you can take your be used to prosecute dop- lowing subsequent events as professional athletes." best from all corners of the
Bonus home," said one of ing cases stemming from should be observed." The LET has been struggling globe. Whan says there
the doctored messages, its state-run system to win But Yuri Ganus, the head recently and this year had could come a time when
purported to have been Olympic medals. of the Russian Anti-Doping 20 official events, including top LET players go straight
written by whistleblower Sprinkled throughout the Agency, said the sanctions two majors — the Women's to the LPGA Tour, similar to
Grigory Rodchenkov to an- 89 pages are a number of "were to be expected, and British Open and Evian the Symetra Tour, but only
other worker, Timofey So- explanations the Russians they're justified."q Championship. The Ladies if the LET reaches a level
Scottish Open also was co- where it makes sense.q