NADA finds unused syringes and Russian medicines during checks at wrestling trials
Nobody came forward to claim the bag at the men's Asian Games trials in Lucknow, but officials said it belonged to a support staff member
The bag was left unattended after a surprise NADA check. (Express photo) Unused syringes and Russian medicines were found in the bag of a support staff member when the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) Intelligence and Investigations (I&I) unit conducted random checks during the Asian Games wrestling trials at the SAI Center in Lucknow on Sunday. National camps have a strict no-needle policy.
However, a NADA official said they were unable to identify the owner of the bag as nobody had come forward to claim it following the random checks.
“We don’t know who the bag belongs to, but we have made a report and sent it to our office,” one of the NADA officials told The Indian Express on the condition of anonymity. “After we checked the bag, it has been unattended and nobody has claimed it yet.”
The medicines listed on the report were: Neoton (Неотон), Pregma 75, and Atorbet, according to the official.
The SAI center hosts the men’s wrestling camp.
“Today, for the trials, a lot of kids have come, and we don’t know who is carrying what. We can’t check their bags. But there is a no-needle policy in the national camp,” said one of the coaches at the camp.
NADA’s intelligence unit has increased the number of surprise bag checks after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) flagged India as the country with the highest number of dope cheats.
WADA published its annual report for 2024 in December last year, and according to the data, 260 Indian athletes tested positive for prohibited performance-enhancing. To put it in context, no other country in the world had dope cheats in triple digits
“It is part of the protocol now. We have been doing it every event we go to,” one of the officials said.
Recently, on the last two days of the Federation Cup Athletics in Ranchi, NADA officials conducted surprise bag checks of the athletes
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