The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : WADA team in Patiala

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 04, 2006

Sport

Sport - Athletics

WADA team in Patiala

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI : A four-member team from the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) made an unannounced visit to the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, on Friday in an effort to collect the urine samples of some of the `elite' athletes preparing for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

According to sources in Patiala, the team could not carry out a single sample collection as all the athletes present at the ground left one by one after hearing of the WADA team's arrival.

However, the Chief Coach of the Indian team, Bahadur Singh explained that athletes had not "run away" as was being accused of, but were on their way back to their living quarters by the time the team arrived. "They came at 4 p.m, by then all the athletes had left," said the coach when contacted at Patiala.

It is learnt that the WADA team has stayed on at Patiala, outside the NIS complex, and could be coming again in search of the athletes. WADA was in search of specific athletes, sources said.

A 39-member team that was training at Potchefstroom, South Africa, had returned two days ago, ten days ahead of schedule, leading to speculation that WADA might have been on its trail forcing it to abandon its training base.

Official explanations for the sudden departure included rains in South Africa and paucity of training venues with synthetic tracks at Potchefstroom plus the necessity to have a period of "re-acclimatisation" for the athletes to compete in the first circuit meet here on February 15.

The last time that a WADA team was at Patiala, sometime last year before the World athletics championships, it managed to test only Neelam J. Singh, who ironically turned in a positive at Helsinki and is under provisional suspension at the moment.

A few months ago, a batch of weightlifters had "disappeared" from the SAI South Centre, Bangalore when an international federation dope control team reached there. The IWF subsequently fined the Indian federation for the "offence" committed by the lifters.

It is to be seen whether the WADA team would eventually manage to collect the samples it needs before leaving Patiala. Violation of "whereabouts" information may lead to action, with "three missed tests" constituting a doping violation that can attract a minimum one-year suspension. "Refusal" will mean a violation that can attract a two-year suspension.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail