WADA to double length of doping bans for guilty athletes

World Anti-Doping Agency president John Fahey has announced that a plan to increase the length of drug bans has been put in place.

The current ruling states that athletes are suspended for two years if they are found guilty of doping and then banned for life if they are tested positive for a second time.

"There is a strong desire to strengthen the sanction articles in the code," BBC Sport quotes Fahey as saying. "This second draft has done that, doubling the length of suspension for serious offenders and widening the scope for anti-doping organisations to impose lifetime bans."

If the proposal is authorised, the new ruling could come into action in 2015.