tain to create panel for doping cases at '12 Games

Britain will establish an independent panel to hear doping cases ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.
Currently, each sporting governing body in Britain must set up its own disciplinary panel to deal with drug offenses by its athletes.
UK Sport, the body that deals with drug testing and punishment, said Wednesday the system led to concerns about "lack of independence, consistency in the way cases are dealt with and potential conflicts of interest."
The national anti-doping panel will be in place in 2008 and will be independent from national governing bodies, athletes and UK Sport, which will provide funding.
UK Sport has also recommended that written decisions of every drug offense be published online in a bid to "demystify" anti-doping.
"Usually only information about the actual sanction is released, but we feel it is important everyone understands how this came about in terms of details of the offense, the evidence considered by the disciplinary panel and the reasoning behind its final decision," Scott said.
UK Sport also released drug testing figures for April to June, which showed 1,653 urine samples had been collected across 39 sports and 91 blood tests conducted. It did not disclose how many tests came back positive.
British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, meanwhile, expressed concern about proposals for criminalizing doping in sports.
"We take the view that it is disproportionate to suggest that criminalizing, and potentially imprisoning athletes, for doping in sport, is the way to ensure sport is free from drugs," the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement.