From Inside the Games

Experienced Australian lawyer and judge James Wood has been appointed to replace Britain’s Jonathan Taylor as chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Compliance Review Committee.

The 78-year-old was confirmed as Taylor’s successor at an extraordinary WADA Executive Committee meeting – the first to be chaired by new WADA President Witold Bańka – at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne.

Wood takes over from British lawyer Taylor, whose mandate as chairman ended on December 31.

One of Taylor’s last acts was to recommend a four-year package of sanctions on Russia, approved by the WADA Executive Committee last month, as punishment for the manipulation of the Moscow Laboratory data.

Wood is chairman of the New South Wales Sentencing Council and is a former head of the Law Reform Commission of New South Wales.

He also served as inspector of the Police Integrity Commission in the region and serves as a judge on the Fiji Court of Appeal.

New Zealand’s Ben Sandford has been confirmed as chairman of the WADA Athlete Committee, a formality after it was revealed exclusively by insidethegames in Poland that he had won a vote to step into the role, vacated by Canadian Beckie Scott.

WADA’s Executive Committee also confirmed the appointment of Singapore’s Ser Miang Ng, a member of the IOC Executive Board, as chairman of the Finance and Administration Committee.

The Singaporean businessman, who chairs the IOC’s Finance Commission, succeeds Association of Summer Olympic International Federations President Francesco Ricci Bitti.

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According to the BBC, former Premiere League general secretary Nic Coward has been hired as interim president of UK Athletics.

“Athletics is a sport that captures the nation’s imagination each and every year, but Olympic and Paralympic year is even more special,” he said.

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