Athletics Kenya accused of not taking action over doping

Ngeny won 1500m gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000

Athletics Kenya has been accused of not doing enough to combat doping by its former executive officer Noah Ngeny.

Just 40 anti-doping tests were carried out in Kenya last year.

The country has been given until 5 April to show it complies with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code.

And former Olympic champion Ngeny - who has now quit his role as athletes' representative - says Athletics Kenya needs to do its bit to tackle doping or it will "kill the sport."

Ngeny, who won 1500m gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, added: "The federation are not fighting the doping issue."

Speaking to the BBC World Service, he continued: "The most important thing is for Athletics Kenya to have a plan. You have to work with a plan, but if you go to the federation today there is nothing, there is no discussion about the doping issue."

Kenya dominates distance running and finished top of the medal table at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing with seven golds.

But the country last month missed a deadline to prove to Wada it was tackling cheating in sport, following a string of positive drugs tests and corruption allegations.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has also provisionally suspended Athletics Kenya's chief executive Isaac Mwangi, who is accused of accepting bribes to reduce doping bans. Mwangi has denied any wrongdoing.

If Kenya fails to comply with Wada's deadline then it could be banned from international competition across all sport, not just athletics - although Kip Keino, head of Kenya's Olympic Committee, has said Kenya "wants to clean its house".

Ngeny, 37, has now called for elections to be held to bring on board new officials.

"We need new blood - new people to save athletics," he said.

Meanwhile, the organisation which represents Olympic athletes has backed calls from Beckie Scott, chair of the committee that represents athletes at Wada, to widen its investigation into other countries and sports.

The World Olympians Association's Joel Bouzou said: "WOA fully backs the call for a wider investigation as a sign of greater commitment to protecting the integrity of global sport and ensuring the interests of clean athletes are ferociously protected."

Russian athletes are banned from international competition after the country was accused of state-sponsored doping.

It must prove it is Wada-compliant before sanctions are lifted.