Montreal: Qatar’s anti-doping laboratory has been suspended from working just 15 months after it was formally accredited.

The World Anti-Doping Agency says it stopped the lab’s work as “a direct result of the more stringent quality assessment procedures enacted by WADA to ensure laboratories maintain the highest standards”.

WADA says the decision took effect last week, though it was announced on Monday on the eve of Doha hosting the annual assembly of national Olympic committees.

The laboratory’s website says it is “an independent entity reporting directly to The Emir of the State of Qatar.”

It is the fifth of 34 WADA-accredited labs worldwide to be currently shut down.

The others are in: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid; and Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Labs in Rio de Janeiro and Beijing were also temporarily suspended this year.