In October 2014, the BWA updated its Anti-Doping Policy that had been published unchanged since 2011. The primary purpose of the policy remains to defer to the UK Anti-Doping Organisation who handle all anti-doping matters across British Wrestling and many different sports. (Link to revised policy)

In response to a subsequent November complaint brought by Mark Cocker concerning events following the doping violation of another athlete at the British Senior Championships 2014 and after a successful mediation between the BWA and Mark, the BWA would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mark (who had helpfully pointed out the following inconsistency that led to the October changes,) and its membership, for a failure to follow the BWA Anti-doping policy.

The BWA UK Anti-Doping Officer and Point for Contact roles in the Anti-Doping policy were defined by position, rather than cross-referring to the BWA Register of Signatories Delegations Representation document.

The BWA would like to apologise also for any confusion or distress that this poor drafting caused to Mark and any other members.

The conflicts in the documents have now been resolved, lessening the likelihood for any breach of either in the future.

With the World Anti-Doping Agency’s new anti-doping regulations coming into force for 2015 onwards, there will be further documentation available on the website with respect to anti-doping shortly.

• Link to British Wrestling Policies web page