Kenyan minister insists anti-doping on track

Nairobi - Sports minister Hassan Wario on Friday moved to ease fears Kenya's track and field athletes would be kicked out of the Olympics by insisting they will have a fully functional anti-doping body within two months.

The move comes a week after the east African nation was placed on probation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after failing to prove it was doing enough to tackle its problems with doping in athletics.

"The message to the world is that Kenya is very willing to work with WADA to ensure that we have a fully operational anti-doping agency, in place within the two-month framework we have been given," Wario told a news conference.

"We have been very transparent in our dealings with WADA on the setting of the Anti-Doping Association of Kenya (ADAK), and we have a lot of confidence we will see the end to the process.

"We want to allay fears that Kenya will be banned from the Rio Olympics, since ADAK has already completed the drafting of the agency's bill and policies, which will be fast-tracked through the legislature to be made into law."

World athletics governing body president Sebastian Coe warned on Thursday that he would ban Kenya's athletics team from the Rio Games in August if action was not taken to comply with anti-doping codes, after more than 40 athletes were banned in the past three years for drug-related offences.