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New WADA President Wants Sponsors to Help Finance Antidoping Efforts

Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press

KATOWICE, Poland — Witold Banka, the sports minister of Poland and president-elect of the World Anti-Doping Agency, is full of ideas. His biggest one, though, might be a tough sell.

Banka, who at 35 is less than half the age of the man he will succeed on Jan. 1, this week proposed the creation of a so-called solidarity mechanism that would provide drug testing in parts of the world where, currently, it is almost nonexistent. It is a bold initiative, and an expensive one, but Banka is proposing that it be financed by corporate sponsors.