Next WADA president must be aggressive too, says Pound

By Karolos Grohmann

MADRID (Reuters) - The successor to outgoing World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound must be equally aggressive and confront cheats, the Canadian told reporters on Thursday.

"You cannot do this job unless you confront cheating," Pound said. "Nobody is going to admit to it with no reason to do so," he said of offenders. "This is cheating."

"That requires a certain level of aggressivity," Pound said.

His clashes with federation presidents as well as doping suspects such as 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who was later stripped of his title, made front-page news while raising WADA's profile.

"That's what anybody who is president of WADA will have to do," Pound, who held the post for eight years, said.

Others, including former International Cycling Union chief and fellow International Olympic Committee member Hein Verbruggen, have strongly opposed Pound's tactics. Verbruggen even called Pound's time at the helm of WADA "a catastrophe".

Pound's successor will be chosen on Saturday with Australian former finance minister John Fahey the only candidate.

Europe's choice, Jean-Francois Lamour unexpectedly dropped out weeks before the WADA meeting, taking place on the sidelines of the third world conference on doping in sport.