globetrotting.com.au reviews

The Man From Snowy River, A horse safari through the Australian High Country.

@marlee_horobin ; A saddlers daughter of Peter Horobin Saddlery shares her experience on a GlobeTrotting adventure.

An adventure in the High Country of Northern Victoria on horseback is exactly what you need to detoxify and revitalise your mind, spirit and soul. I am an Australian equine, daughter of an Australian Saddler and call me bias about my homeland but I guarantee that you haven’t witnessed the sky until you have seen the skies we call home. I have recently experienced a 5 day horseback tour with GlobeTrotting operated by Hidden Trails By Horseback and it ticked all the boxes for an experience which embraces the great outdoors. A luxury experience, this safari will provide you with a week of breathtaking scenery, night time star gazing, excellent home cooked meals, and a hot outdoor shower amongst the swaying snow gums. A family business, operators Christian and Laura Hayes will transport you into a time when cattleman had their huts and campfires to keep warm at night and their noble steeds to transport them through the thick Australian bush throughout the day. These mountains are unforgivingly breathtaking. The ultimate luxury to disconnect and reconnect with yourself. No phone reception and absolutely no wifi; comes free.

The Route Travelling over 120km over 5 days up and down hidden trails, undulations are steep, tracks are narrow and views are spectacular. Every morning as the sun comes up, the surprise of a dramatic landscape will embrace you. The wind changing and whistling through the trees, birds singing their songs. Cattlemen’s huts are dotted across the trail, some hidden providing refuge for those who venture amongst towering forests of alpine ash. Each hut is maintained by the local horsemen and tour operators in the area, some who are second and third generation cattleman. Men and women who know the rugged landscape like the back of their hands. Pristine river crossings; zigzagging across the Howqua River consume one day of riding, while Howqua gap, the narrow ridgeline between the summits of Mount Stirling and Mount Buller captivate another.

Many assume trail riding is ‘just trail riding’ sitting on a horse then ‘to go’ and ‘to stop’, however I challenge you to think again. Trail riding requires endurance, stamina and connection between horse and rider. The horses are only as good as their trainers and the beauty of this ride is that, each horse and rider is matched to suit each other’s personalities and riding experience. Horse and rider match can be a deal breaker for the entire experience, Laura and Christian Hayes do a fabulous job to have this covered. An experienced rider concerned about the challenge of the ride is not a worry worth contemplating on this safari. Some days, your adrenaline will be pumping on cliff tops and others you will be watching the flowers bloom and dance in the breeze. This ride is for all who love to live an equestrian lifestyle.

These horses can be trusted to climb up steep rock faces safely and with only one option to ride forward and no option to ride back all for us to experience the exception mountainscape across the Victorian high plains is a credit of horse and people management to the Hidden Trails By Horseback team.

My buckskin Arrow, was gentle and loving, a mare who really knew where to step and how to navigate her footing to ensure safe passage. Soft and receptive; with only a simple snaffle bridle and a kind bit, Arrow was one of many who matched the temperament of being extremely well trained and looked after. All horses were rugged at night when cold and given a communal paddock which had been built alongside the refuge cattle huts to graze throughout the afternoon and early evening. The staff never stopped caring for their animals.

What is included A rustic luxurious experience, all swags and tents are included. We slept under the stars in our swags each evening, nothing beats the stars of the southern cross on a clear night. Delicious home cooked meals and a campfire keep you warm when the cold air settles in. Hot showers and eco toilets are available at each camp site and cooked breakfasts every morning to give you the energy you need throughout the day. Storytelling around the campfire and guitar strumming transitions day into night. Make sure you purchase your alcohol before you arrive. A good bottle of Durif from the famous Victorian winery Brown Brothers followed by some Tasmanian Nant Whiskey was my ‘Bring Your Own’ kind of choice. Don’t forget your Akubra to give you protection from the Australian sun and a pair of bather to swim in the pristine and clear Howqua River.

The Inspiration At Peter Horobin Saddlery we are currently developing the ‘Australiana’ collection. 3 styles of saddles, a country (hybrid between a stock saddle and and english saddle) the endurance/trail and soon to be launched half breed. Embracing my dad’s innovation of the StrideFree tree, a tree in which is cutaway at the shoulder allowing maximum freedom of shoulder movement was the catalyst for our ride. Christian and Laura kindly allowed us to ride in our own saddles, to test them amongst the toughest terrain in the Australian mountains. To not only find that our saddles gave freedom through the shoulders, the short panels, allowed clearance of any lumbar area (even in an 18” seat on a 15.3 cross breed) and they really did feel amazing to ride in. I felt close contact and it was a real test for the saddle to not move on the horse’s back. No worry of the saddle sliding forward when travelling down steep hills. No need for a breastplate.

How To Get There

The 7-day Craig’s Hut & High Country Ride is operated by Laura and Christian Hayes from Hidden Trails by Horseback (web link: http://www.hiddentrails.com.au/) and can be booked through Globetrotting (web link: www.globetrotting.com.au), a horse riding holiday agency. The ride price starts from $2600 AUD per person. Guests would need to fly to Melbourne, Australia the day before their ride begins, and then transfer to Mansfield, a rustic country town in rural Victoria. The transfer service costs $200 AUD per person round trip. For further information you can email info@ globetrotting.com.au or phone +61 438 851 981.

Venture down to Melbourne to visit Peter Horobin Saddlery. The family owned business will provide you with an ultimate saddle experience. To find out more visit www.horobin.com.au or call +61 3 59751055 or email [email protected]

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Globetrotting Review

• Post author By Kristofer Solomon
• Post date August 3, 2023
• Categories In Andrew Nerger , Contracts , Jeff Chin , Multiplayer , R2i Games , Review , Route Building , Simultaneous Action Selection
• No Comments on Globetrotting Review

Name: Globetrotting

Year of Release: 2023

Player Count: 1 – 4

Playing Time: 30 Minutes

Designer: Jeff Chin & Andrew Nerger

Publisher: R2i Games

Primary Mechanisms: Contracts, Route Building, Simultaneous Action Selection

Weight ( According to BGG.com ): 2.00

R2i Games has become one of the publishers in the board gaming world that will always warrant, at least, a cursory glance at their upcoming projects. Ever since I saw that these two guys were giving out free copies of their game Crypt during the onset of the 2020 pandemic, I knew they were in the business of not only making games but making people genuinely with their products.  Their next game, Canvas , brought a whole new slew of fans to know who they were, based on the creative use of transparent cards that can be layered to build a set of prize-winning paintings.  Using this same creative drive, they’ve now launched Globetrotting , a route-building game that has players actually drawing out their trips on a plastic globe.  So, is Globetrotting going to be your next favorite destination or a one-way trip to the “For Sale” pile on your shelf?

Read on to find out!

Rulebook & Components 

Globetrotting’s rulebook is a scant 11 pages that cover all there is to know about the game.  It is clearly laid out, full of large pictures for examples, and even small callouts (or clarifications ) to help players navigate the ins-and-outs while they play.  Honestly, I don’t see any improvements that would need to be made to the rulebook, but to be fair, a game with a complexity as low as this should hit the rulebook out of the park every time.

Let’s move on to the components, starting with the one that everyone is interested in, the plastic Globe .  It’s made up of two halves, that are easily nested into each other within the storage system.  There are two things I want to call out with when it comes to the Globe: one good and one bad.  First, the good: R2i has engineered a way where players only need to snap in the Map cut-out when they first receive the game, and it stays in place for future plays.  This is great as you don’t have to fool with placing the Maps into each Globe before every play.  Now, for the bad: the Globes just don’t snap together all that wonderfully.  I find myself fighting with them every time and feel as if I’m almost going to break the two halves as I work them together.  Maybe this is a “me” problem, but I do feel like this is a bit of a sore point with the game.

Next, let’s discuss the Destination Cards .  These beauties remind me of the National Park cards found in the game PARKS .  They are tarot-sized and feature beautiful renditions of each destination.  Another thing to mention is that although some of the cards feature destinations you’d expect in a vacation-planning game, such as Maui or Easter Island, they’ve also added many locations that act as easter eggs for the modern board gaming world.  Some of these include Carcassonne, Santorini, and Isle of Skye though I will leave the rest for you to discover.  This a wonderful little wink to the board gaming world that puts a smile on my face.

The balance of the components is top-notch as well.  The Bucket List Cards are made of wet-erase material so players can make notes on them, and they are wonderfully illustrated.  I love the art style of this whole project and it definitely gives off “vacation of a lifetime” vibes.  There are a multitude of other tokens or tiles that are included and are also similarly high-quality.  I think my only real gripe is that the decision to go wet-erase doesn’t seem as easy nor clean as dry-erase games I’ve played recently (such as Rolling Realms ) but this is minor and doesn’t affect my feelings of the game overall.

Setup & Gameplay

I won’t go into the aspects of setup too much, except to say it’s a breeze.  If you want to know the exact details of setup, please visit our full tutorial video here .  Gameplay in Globetrotting is quick and easy, especially as players are taking turns simultaneously.  Players need to plan out three different trips in three different seasons: Spring, Summer, and Fall .  Players will be constructing these trips over a series of nine turns, visiting a new destination on each turn.  There are three destination cards unveiled each round and players will choose from one of these locations to plot onto their Globe.

The Globe sits in a stand with a ring emblazoned with a set of double arrows and then numbers ranging from 1 to 5 on each side.  Once a destination is chosen, players will rotate their Globes, so the origin location is pointed at the double arrows, and then position the destination city on the horizontal axis of the ring.  Then the player can trace a straight line, using the edge of the ring, to connect both locations.  Lastly, the player will notate how much Airfare costs based on the last number passed on the stand’s ring.  Once all players have completed this task, three new Destination Cards are flipped, and play starts again.

So, how does one decide on which destinations to choose?  To a lesser extent, players are going to want to spend the least amount in Airfare by the end of the game, as they will be awarded bonus points for this accomplishment.  Please note that the bonus points awarded are only two points so this will typically not sway the game one way or the other but is a nice buffer to have.  That leaves the Bucket List Cards as the main decision driver for players.  These cards give individual objectives to players, where they are tasked with meeting certain criteria in a specific season.  Some examples of this would be to visit three locations in three different continents within the Spring trip or to have your Fall trip “double-back” on itself, ensuring that at least one line intersects with another line from that same trip.  I like that beginners can play with one card for each season but then the difficulty can be increased by adding more cards and having a draft between players before the game starts.

As with many modern board games, players are given the opportunity to score many bonus points, and Globetrotting is no different.  There are Global Objectives , that act somewhat like Bucket List Cards but for the whole table, as well as Festival Tokens that give you bonuses for picking Destinations and using them in a certain season that matches the pile the card was drawn from.  These Festival Tokens are removed in a three- or four-player game and instead players will use the Travel Companion Tiles that give points two adjacent players who choose to go to the same Destination within the same season.  While these are fun ways to grab extra points, none of it matches up to the fun of the main draw of planning out your trips in order to fulfill your Bucket List Cards.

Solo Mode Thoughts

As they did in Canvas , the designers have created an AI player (this time named Abby) that a single player can play against.  The overall gameplay is the same with one exception: when you choose a Destination Card, you look to the card to the right of it and note the number in its coordinates (from one to three.)  This ends up being the Airfare cost that you log into Abby’s Passport .  At game’s end, Abby scores the two points if she has spent less than you and is also automatically given certain points for the other objectives, basically scoring more points for every Bucket List Card you drew at the beginning of the game.  While this is an “OK” way to get the game to the table when you have no available to play with, I wish Abby had a better way of deciding on which card she would take or even some way that she interacted and blocked you from taking certain Destination cards.  Instead, it seems like a bit of a crapshoot on who ends up as the winner on the solo variant.

When I backed Globetrotting on Kickstarter, I expected a fun, relaxing, and creative light-weight game and that is exactly what I got.  So far, my 7- and 10-year-olds have both played and have enjoyed it (though they did need some help figuring out how to maneuver the Globe correctly in order to trace a line via the stand’s ring.)  At 30 minutes per play, and a relatively easy to understand ruleset, Globetrotting is a trip worth taking.

Ratings are based on 5 main criteria: rulebook, setup, components, art & graphic design, and gameplay.  The first 4 criteria are rated 1 to 5 and the gameplay is rated 1 to 10.  These scores culminate in an “overall satisfaction” score that is rated from 1 to 10.  If the reviewed game has both a solo and multiplayer mode, I have assigned scores separately to give context to which mode we enjoy more.   

Rulebook – 4 Setup – 3.5 Components – 4.5 Art/Graphic Design – 4.5

Gameplay (Multiplayer) – 8 Gameplay (Solo) – 5.5

Overall Satisfaction (Multiplayer)

Overall Satisfaction (Solo)

• Creative use of Globe component in gameplay.
• Destination Card artwork is wonderfully illustrated.
• Easy and quick setup.
• Solo AI opponent leaves something to be desired.

 As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Kickstarter: Globetrotting by Road To Infamy — Kickstarter

Hey, everyone! I’m Kristofer Solomon and the creator of Board Game Breakdown. I’ve been playing board games since I was little, typically spending days on top of days playing Risk with kids from my neighborhood. As I moved into college, I started playing Magic: the Gathering with a group of guys and my love for board games slid to the wayside as I progressed into gulp adulthood (not to mention a long obsession with World of Warcraft.) Eventually, I fell back into the hobby in its current state when my wife (then girlfriend) bought me a copy of Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition for my birthday in 2008. This simple to grasp, but strategic train game blew me away. I didn’t realize at the time that board games could be much more than your average game of Sorry or Trouble. We eventually got Catan, Small World, and other well-known titles and the rest is history. I’m hopeful that the content of this website and its associated YouTube and Instagram channels can be informative to those who are either on the fence about getting a game, or maybe just looking for something new. About 50% of my gaming time is spent solo gaming so I enjoy touching on that subject when I discuss games as this is an area that is typically not focused on. Thanks to all who spent even a minute perusing this site, it means a lot to me. Happy gaming!

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Israel Hasn’t Offered Evidence Tying Many U.N. Workers to Hamas, Review Says

The review did not address whether some employees of a U.N. agency, UNRWA, took part in the Oct. 7 attack, but it said no evidence had emerged that many UNRWA workers belonged to militant groups.

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By Cassandra Vinograd and Patrick Kingsley

• April 22, 2024

Israel has not provided evidence to support its accusations that many employees of the main U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees are members of terrorist organizations, according to an independent review commissioned by the United Nations that was released on Monday.

The review did not address Israel’s accusation that a dozen employees of the agency, known as UNRWA, were involved in the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7. “It is a separate mission, and it is not in our mandate,” said Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister who led the inquiry.

The review was announced in January , before Israel circulated claims that one in 10 of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip was a member of Hamas or its ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and that some of those employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack.

But by the time investigators started working on the review in early February , Israel had leveled those charges, giving the inquiry added significance.

Speaking at a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, Ms. Colonna said she wanted to be “very clear” that the question of involvement in Oct. 7 is a separate question, one that remains under internal investigation by the United Nations.

While Israel has not produced evidence of ties to Hamas and other militant groups among UNRWA workers, that does not mean there is no evidence, she noted. “It’s very different,” she said.

More than a dozen countries, including the United States, suspended funding to UNRWA in light of the accusations. The United Nations fired 10 of the 12 employees accused in the attack while pleading with donor countries to restore funding at a time when the majority of Gazans depend on the group for food and shelter. It also announced an internal investigation along with the independent external review , which was made public on Monday.

After the Biden administration halted funding for the agency pending the results of investigations, Congress barred any money for the agency for a year, through March 2025.

The review led by Ms. Colonna said that UNRWA had long shared lists of its employees with Israel, but that the Israeli government had not informed the agency of any concerns relating to UNRWA staff members based on these lists since 2011.

“Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the report said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this.”

In a statement on Monday, Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said, “Hamas has infiltrated UNRWA so deeply that it is no longer possible to determine where UNRWA ends and where Hamas begins.”

“This is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like,” he added. “This is what an effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on looks like.”

Amid calls from Israel to shutter the agency, the report commissioned by the United Nations said UNRWA remained “pivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services,” adding that “UNRWA is irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians’ human and economic development.”

Still, the report found that despite “robust” guidelines to ensure its neutrality, there were weaknesses in their implementation because of problems in the agency’s vetting processes, its internal investigations and restrictions on its ability to prevent armed groups from using its facilities for military purposes.

The report said the agency “lacks the support of intelligence services to undertake efficient and comprehensive vetting.”

A lack of resources had slowed the agency’s investigations into alleged breaches of neutrality, “limiting UNRWA’s ability to attract, hire, train and retain suitable, experienced and qualified investigators,” the report said.

The report added that there had been instances when agency employees had publicly expressed political views, its schools had used textbooks with “problematic content” and some of its facilities had been used for “political or military purposes.” The report did not elaborate, but said that breaches of neutrality “could include the discovery of weapons, cavities and tunnel openings, military activities or incursions.”

The review offered recommendations for protecting the agency’s neutrality, including additional screening and training of staff members, and closer cooperation with host countries and Israel in sharing employee rosters.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said on Monday that Mr. Guterres had accepted the report’s recommendations and appealed for donors “to actively support UNRWA, as it is a lifeline for Palestine refugees in the region.”

Among the countries that suspended payments over Israel’s allegations, several — including Canada, Japan and Australia — have resumed funding UNRWA, citing the spiraling humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and steps taken by the agency to improve accountability. The United States has said it would wait for the results of U.N. investigations before deciding whether to resume donations to UNRWA.

Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesman, told reporters on Monday that the Biden administration was reviewing the United Nations report and had no assessment yet of its conclusions.

“Certainly, we welcome the fact that the secretary-general has accepted the recommendations,” Mr. Miller said, adding that the United States had “long made clear that there needs to be reforms at UNRWA.”

“We have always made clear that we think the role that UNRWA plays is indispensable in providing and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance — not just in Gaza, but in the broader region,” he said. “We continue to support the work that they do.”

UNRWA was created to provide aid to Palestinians across the Middle East whose families fled or were forced from lands during the wars surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. Since Hamas won Palestinian elections in Gaza in 2006 and ousted a rival faction from the enclave a year later, the group ceded many of its civil responsibilities to UNRWA.

Israel has claimed that UNRWA is fundamentally compromised, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for it to be closed and replaced “with responsible international aid agencies.”

Michael Levenson , Anushka Patil and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article described incorrectly what a review said about Israeli concerns about UNRWA employees. The review said that Israel had not flagged concerns about agency employees based on staff lists since 2011, not that Israel had not flagged any concerns about employees since 2011.

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Patrick Kingsley is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. More about Patrick Kingsley

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Way forward for Sydney Trains as final Rail Review released

Published: 26 April 2024

Released by: Minister for Transport

The final Sydney Trains Review has been released, outlining key challenges and recommendations, including major system upgrades, fleet reliability and workforce gaps.

The findings provide a framework for reform that will shape the future of our railways in New South Wales.

The review found Sydney Trains is facing significant changes over the coming years, such as the new timetable allowing for integration of metro services, as well as critical network upgrades.

It recommends a ‘fleet support strategy’ be prepared to address performance issues, an action the government is currently exploring at pace.

Fleet performance is below target, caused by delays to train technology upgrades and the former government’s problem-plagued procurement and integration of the New Intercity and New Regional Rail fleets.

While the stalwart Tangaras are still within their life cycle, the ageing fleet was the highest contributor to maintenance issues. The government continues to explore options for the next generation of locally built Tangaras which will replace the current fleet in the coming years.

The review also highlights significant challenges in recruiting, training and retaining key skills in specialised positions, recommending a number of measures to address this shortfall.

Sydney Trains was found to have high vacancy rates in critical positions and an ageing workforce, particularly in the critical engineering and maintenance branch, in which around 20 per cent of staff are aged under 34 – and almost 30 per cent over 55.

Other recommendations from the review include:

• Realign accountabilities to improve approaches to safety, asset management, freight and third-party access to the rail corridor;
• Review how assets are owned, managed and assured within Transport​for NSW;
• Explore options for continuous improvement of critical incident response;
• Work collaboratively with freight to determine better ways of prioritising the movement of both people and goods across the state​;
• Invest in critical asset needs and review ways of working to support enhanced maintenance practices.

Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW welcome the 69 findings from the review process and are working through them, with some more complex than others.

All 12 recommendations of the Interim Rail Review have either commenced or been finalised, including the government’s Rail Repair Plan, which exceeded expectations ahead of schedule.

The independent review was launched by the Transport Minister on 31 March 2023 and undertaken by an independent panel comprising Carolyn Walsh, Arthur Smith and Peter Medlock.

Read the full Sydney Trains Review Final Report

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said: “The Rail Review process has brought to light some of the key factors that have led to delays and disruption for passengers.

“There will never be a quick or easy fix, and these changes won’t happen overnight – but this is a crucial evolution that will gradually modernise our network and ensure we’re a global leader in rail efficiency.

“This final report covers many recommendations which provide a pathway forward, and I look forward to working through them with Sydney Trains and Transport for NSW.

“I want to thank the panel, all stakeholders who provided input, and – most importantly – the thousands of Sydney Trains workers who are contributing to this important work to shape the future of rail in NSW.”

Sydney Trains CEO Matt Longland said: “Sydney Trains is always looking for ways to improve. We welcome the opportunity to do so through the review process and thank National Transport Commission Chair Carolyn Walsh for her work.

“We constantly strive to provide the best possible service for our passengers and are able to do so thanks to the tireless efforts of our hardworking staff.

“The review process has seen positive collaboration and important recommendations. We’re proud to be delivering results, such as the Rail Repair Plan, and look forward to the next steps.

“Some of these recommendations require considerable investment over the next decade, and we look forward to developing detailed proposals for the government’s consideration.”

WADA launches independent review of handling of Chinese swimmers' positive doping tests before Tokyo Olympics

Sport WADA launches independent review of handling of Chinese swimmers' positive doping tests before Tokyo Olympics

The under-fire World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has launched an independent review over its handling of a case that allowed 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance to avoid punishment.

The investigation will be led by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier, who WADA said would have access to all files and documents related to the case and would be free to consult independent experts.

Cottier will begin his work in the coming days and is expected to deliver his findings within two months.

"WADA's integrity and reputation is under attack," WADA president Witold Banka said in a statement.

"In the past few days, WADA has been unfairly accused of bias in favour of China by not appealing the CHINADA case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"We continue to reject the false accusations and we are pleased to be able to put these questions into the hands of an experienced, respected and independent prosecutor."

Calls for an independent investigation have grown since a New York Times report on Saturday said 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine (TMZ) months before the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics in July 2021 .

The swimmers avoided sanctions after an investigation by Chinese authorities ruled the adverse analytical findings, or AAFs, were the result of being inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination.

A report determined all the swimmers who tested positive were staying at the same hotel where traces of trimetazidine (TMZ), which is found in heart medication, were discovered in the kitchen.

WADA has defended its handling of the case , saying it had no evidence to challenge China's findings and that external counsel had advised against appealing.

Swimming Australia chief executive Rob Woodhouse said his organisation welcomed the independent review.

"While findings of this review will not be delivered for two months, Swimming Australia has additionally called for assurances and clarity from WADA around their processes performed in handling this case to restore faith in the global anti-doping system," he said.

"Swimming Australia is committed to clean sport and the strict enforcement of anti-doping rules – to be applied equitably — to maintain a level playing field without exception.

"Transparency and trust are the corner stones of the anti-doping system, and we hope the Independent Review provides further clarity on the processes involved in this instance."

Woodhouse said his statement welcoming the review did not indicate Swimming Australia believed any wrongdoing had taken place.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has led the call for an independent investigation, along with an overhaul of WADA to restore confidence in the global body ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

USADA chief Travis Tygart has accused WADA of being involved in a "potential cover-up" and the global anti-doping body has responded by threatening legal action.

In addition to the independent prosecutor, WADA said it would send a compliance audit team to China to assess the state of its anti-doping program and will invite independent auditors from the broader anti-doping community to join the mission.

"While not one shred of evidence has been presented to support any of the allegations made against WADA, we wish to deal with the matter as quickly and as comprehensively as possible so that the matter is appropriately handled in advance of the upcoming Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games," WADA director-general Olivier Niggli said.

The ABC of SPORT

Reuters/ABC

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