Wada president calls for funding help for doping fight

Sir Craig Reedie has been president of the World Anti-Doping Agency since January 2014

Sponsors and broadcasters should help fund the fight against doping, says World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president Sir Craig Reedie.

A Wada independent commission revealed a state-sponsored doping programme in Russian athletics in November.

Athletes have called for Wada to widen its investigation to other countries and sports.

To do this, Reedie said Wada would need help to increase its current budget, which is approximately $26m (£18m).

"If full-blown investigations are to become the norm, then we must of course seriously explore greater funding," he said.

"I have heard ever-more vociferous calls for a slice of the millions of dollars that are paid for sport television revenue to be provided to the anti-doping cause.

"This is a bold idea. I put it to the leading sport federations and broadcasters. Now is the time to look at this seriously.

"I also think that major sport sponsors should start to consider how they might help fund clean sport."

The World Olympians Association, which represents Olympic athletes, has backed calls from Beckie Scott, chair of the committee that represents athletes at Wada, to widen its investigations.

Wada director general David Howman has said his organisation's effectiveness was limited by a lack of resources.

"When I started at Wada, Wayne Rooney was being paid $4m a year by Manchester United," Howman told the BBC last year. "He's now being paid something like $30m.

"We were getting $20m when he first started, we're now getting $30m."