Vece takes guard to educate cricketers on WADA code

“I will be available with the BCCI for two weeks in a month. My duty will be educating players about anti-doping procedures. The anti-doping centre will be put up in eight Test centres and we will be teaching the local staff about anti-doping too,” Paes said.

The International Cricket Council had recently introduced a modified ‘whereabouts clause’ which was accepted by the BCCI. However,Paes wants to teach players about the doping code before advising them on filling in the ‘whereabouts’ form.

“The Indian cricket calendar is too tight,so the first thing will be to educate cricketers as early as possible. As the new WADA policy started from August 1,we will have to see when will the first quarter for WADA come up. Let the players understand the procedure first,” Paes,who was in the Asian Cricket Council for nine years,said. Paes also brushed aside language problems for domestic players who are not highly educated or comfortable with English. “We just want players to get used to the protocol given by WADA. They should be aware whether the drug they are taking will have any negative effect. A full list of medicines will be provided by us,there will be a 24-hour helpline number and we will educate team physiotherapists too,” he said.

Paes also clarified that cricketers,who complained about the ‘whereabouts clause’,aren’t the first to do so. “Many sportspersons felt they were being treated like criminals. Sportpersons are generally laid back characters,they felt they were been treated like Guinea pigs. But there are so many medicines or liquid dope available which is hard to trace after 24 hrs of consumption,so WADA has to do such tests to keep the sport clean,” Paes said.