The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will have to reduce the number of tests it wants to conduct next year because of a funding shortfall, its head Richard Pound said on Friday.
Pound said the agency will have 20 percent less to spend next year if countries such as the United States, Italy and Ukraine do not pay for their share of its budget.
"We will act as if we will receive about 80 percent of our budget," Pound told reporters after a two-day meeting of the agency's board.
"We can't do all the testing we want to do. We can't do all the research we want to do. The cup is both half empty and half full."
The agency's official budget for 2004 will stand at $21.5 million, but it expects to receive less than $17 million in contributions. Any funds it receives above that will be given to its research, testing and educational programs, he said.
Pound said countries that refused to pay would be excluded from sitting on WADA's internal committees though he was also talking with the International Olympic Committee about banning their flags and national anthems at the Olympic Games.
"We will leave it to the governments to explain to their citizens why their flag is not there.
"We don't want to penalize the athletes and exclude them, but there are symbolic and effective means."
WADA will also call on Olympic sports federations to remove hosting rights for international competitions from countries that fail to pay their dues.
Lack of funding forced WADA to cut back its planned random tests by a third to 5,000 in 2003.
