Dope watchdogs in deep freeze

When the Indian contingent left for the Asian Youth Championship on May 6, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) was clueless whether all athletes on the flight to Doha were ‘clean.’ The athletes were tested at the Youth National Championships in Goa from April 16 to 18. However, the results were made known to the AFI only on May 7, one day after the team left for the Gulf nation.

Moreover, the comprehensive test results of those athletes at the pre-departure camp, held at Sonepat, for the Doha meet were available only on May 11 – the last day of the Asian Youth Championships. A scenario wherein an Indian athlete, using performance-enhancing substances, being tested in Doha and returning a positive test, is one the AFI was dreading while the Asian meet was in progress.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) shifts the blame to the AFI’s eleventh-hour intimation of the camp, which meant the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) was hard-pressed for time. However, there are more instances of the (NDTL) dragging its feet in declaring results of dope tests conducted on India’s top sportspersons. The NDTL and NADA released all the test results from the Kerala National Games only last month, two months after the event concluded.

Queerly, a broken down air-conditioning unit and malfunctioning machinery have been cited as the reasons for the delay. The testing laboratory must have adequate air conditioning to maintain proper temperature for storage of samples.

The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) rule states that test results have to be reported within 10 working days of collecting the samples. The NDTL and NADA, however, have taken months to come to a conclusion.

Since January this year, 45 positive cases are pending hearing with the NADA while dozens of athletes who have been tested months ago are yet to know the results of their samples.

Of the 45 positive cases, over 20 are weightlifters (a good number from national youth weightlifting championship), 11 from athletics while the rest are from boxing, cycling, judo, wrestling and wushu. These cases also include 16 cases from the Kerala National Games.

At a snail’s pace

India’s anti-doping watchdogs are grappling with this backlog because NADA’s Anti-Doping Hearing Panel (ADAP) — independent disciplinary and appeal panels —have not been formed after the term of the previous panel ended on February 22.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) makes it mandatory to have an independent panel to hear athletes’ cases to ensure an unbiased trial. Sports secretary Ajit Sharan, who is also the chief executive of the NDTL, said a panel will be formed soon. “We have not been able to appoint a new panel since the term of the last one expired. We will do that in a week or so,” he said.

India has one of the highest number of doping cases in the world. Last year, NADA had sanctioned 112 athletes across various sports for testing positive for banned substances. This year, however, only 10 have been sanctioned with the last decision coming on February 12 when the panel suspended weightlifter Taranbir Singh and hammer thrower Harvender Singh Dagar for four and eight years respectively.

In athletics, India was second only to Russia in the number of sanctioned athletes last year, with 31 suspended by the international athletics body.

CAS raps NADA 

LAST month, a case of an unheralded Pune swimmer, Amar Muralidharan that was heard by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), once again highlighted the glaring lapses in the functioning of the NADA. Muralidharan tested positive in the National Swimming Championships and was notified about it in September 2010. The NADA-appointed panel took two years to begin the hearing of his case.

This delay was highlighted in the CAS verdict dated April 8, 2015, which said that it is against NADA’s own rules that state that the ‘hearing should commence within 14 days of the notification date.’

In its order, the CAS came down heavily on NADA for ‘showing an alarming inability to effectively, timely and appropriately handle the Appellant’s case…’

The CAS also ordered the NADA to share costs of the proceedings, including attorney fees, for its inability to render a decision within the set deadline.

Despite receiving a rap on the knuckles from CAS, very little seems to have moved forward. NADA has still not received the results of the Federation Cup athletics meet, held in Mangalore in the first week of May, from NDTL. One more round of tests are likely to be conducted on the athletes before they leave for Wuhan, China.

The AFI is hoping tests results will be out before the team departs.

“Currently, there is no way to know if those selected for the Asian Championships are clean or not. NADA has been conducting tests on the athletes but the whole exercise is rendered pointless if the results are not known in time. Hopefully, we will be in a better position this time round,” an AFI official said.