Doping: IOC sprints, AAG drops the baton

Even as the International Olympic Committee acted fast to uncover the latest — and possibly largest — doping scam, organisers of t...

Even as the International Olympic Committee acted fast to uncover the latest — and possibly largest — doping scam, organisers of the Afro-Asian Games have said they will not be testing athletes’ samples for the new ‘designer’ steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).

Though officials of the Indian Olympic Association were typically woolly-headed two days before the Games begin, Dr Yoshio Kuroda, who heads the Anti-Doping Commission in charge of the AAG, said they would not be conducting dope tests for THG. ‘‘We can’t control the drugs (THG) at the Afro-Asian Games,’’ he told The Indian Express.

The urine samples will be tested at the SAI lab in New Delhi which has been given temporary accreditation by the IOC-run lab at Tokyo. The Delhi lab, Kuroda said, lacked the technical expertise to test the samples for THG. ‘‘At this moment, it is not easy. We need more time and money besides the technical know-how.’’

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Incidentally, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the IOC’s top dope-busting body, said today it had sent to all its 30 accredited labs worldwide a test to detect THG.

And one laboratory in Cologne, Germany, said it had already started re-testing hundreds of athletes’ urine samples, using a test developed by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, who uncovered THG after a tip-off from a coach in early June.

‘‘We know what we’re looking for and we know how to find it,’’ lab head Wilhelm Schaenzer said.

WADA’s director general David Howman said they are sending a strong message that there will be no delay in catching dope cheats. “WADA strongly encourages all bodies responsible for testing to review their internal processes and protocols to see whether currently stored samples can be analysed for this ‘new’ substance,” said Howman.

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Euro champ in net?

British sprinter Dwain Chambers, the European 100 metres record holder, has reportedly tested positive for THG, The Guardian newspaper reported. Traces of the drug were found in a urine sample given by the athlete in an out-of-competition test when training in Germany. Chambers, one of Britain’s main Olympic medal hopes in Athens next year, has denied the charges.

NANDROLONE: Inter Milan striker Mohamed Kallon has failed a preliminary drug test taken after a Serie A game last September, according to an Italian Olympic Committee report today. The 24-year-old from Sierra Leone, tested positive for Nandrolone after a game that Inter drew 0-0 at Udinese in September.

Dominic A LeBlanc, the Minister of Public Safety, said, "The promotion of violence is never acceptable in Canada." (PTI Photo/ File)

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