Dragging feat: Dope or dupe?

The Hyderabad National Games which had made waves for bringing unprecedented monetary gains to athletes, could now go down in the history of...

The Hyderabad National Games which had made waves for bringing unprecedented monetary gains to athletes, could now go down in the history of Indian sports for its inept dope testing methods. Though the Games were over about four months back, only after it was reported in the media that the Indian Olympic Association officials admitted that more than a dozen athletes had tested positive. The reason for delay, as a source in IOA said, could be the hope of some to suppress the matter.

But the official reason given is paper work and procedure delay besides the usual blame game. Randhir Singh, secretary of the IOA blamed the dope laboratory of the Sports Authority of India. Singh said, 8216;8216;The delay was caused becaused SAI has a limited capacity for testing.8217;8217; Incidentally, the IOA secretary-general is also a member of WADA, world8217;s highest authority on anti-doping. IOA8217;s head of medical commission Dr Manmohan Singh also defended the delay, saying that they have to follow certain procedures.

But as per the international rule of WADA and the International Olympic Committee, results of dope tests have to be declared within 48 hours after they are conducted. Sushil Dutt Salwan, the one-man enquiry committee which had probed Sunita Rani8217;s case says the huge delay is against the international rule. Talking to the Indian Express, he said, 8216;8216;The delay in announcing the results defies logic. Why has it taken so long? It seems that the testings were not done on time.8217;8217;

Salwan also questioned the capability of SAI8217;s doping laboratory. 8216;8216;The SAI laboratory just keeps on talking about applying for international recognition whereas they don8217;t even follow the IOC procedures. What will they do for the Afro-Asian Games to be held in Hyderabad?8217;8217;

IOA officials have confirmed that even the 8216;B8217; sample of these athletes have shown positive traces of drugs and baring a few who have applied for some more time, the names are expected to be declared soon. Lalit Bhanot, secretary of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India said, 8216;8216;In the case of our athletes, only one of them remains to be tested for sample 8216;B8217;. But by next week, all the names should be known.8217;8217;

However officials are not willing to commit that strong action will be taken against those who have tested positive. The Salwan Commission had recommended that the guilty athletes should be dismissed by their employers since these athletes were given jobs on sports quota and were setting bad examples for aspirants. Officials in the IOA are saying that the job of punishing is to be done by the concerned national federation. Bhanot said that punishment will be 8216;8216;as per the offence8217;8217; though it was his federation which had appointed the Salwan Commission. The commission had also recommended that the coaches of the athletes should also be held accountable and punished. But so far, officials are not even talking about these issues. As in the past, the officials seem more keen to brush up the issue under the carpet.