The Hindu : Sport : Davaram committee hears more explanations from Neelam's counsel

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Thursday, Feb 09, 2006

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Sport - Sports : General

Davaram committee hears more explanations from Neelam's counsel

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Davaram committee, probing into the Neelam J. Singh doping case, met here on Tuesday after a gap of two and a half months and heard the athlete's counsel.

Mr. Walter Davaram, who heads the four-member panel, said that the panel would be meeting again once more before arriving at a decision. Though the panel was in full attendance on Tuesday, two of the members had to leave early.

Neelam's counsel, Sushil Salwan, who had sought 15 days time when the committee met last in Chennai in November, has made a long list of arguments in a written submission, questioning the procedures adopted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as well as the WADA-accredited laboratory in Helsinki. He argued the case further on Tuesday, giving more explanations about the objections he had raised.

Mr. Davaram was hopeful of the panel finalising its recommendation to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) by the end of this month. It was quite likely, he said on Wednesday, that the committee would be meeting in Delhi during the Federation Cup here at the end of this month in order to study the arguments put forward by Mr. Salwan.

The prosecutor in this case, AFI, had submitted to the panel the technical documents received from the laboratory through the IAAF. It has, however, not sought any clarifications from IAAF or WADA in order to rebut Mr. Salwan's arguments.

The AFI did seek clarifications from the lab through the IAAF with regard to English translation of technical documentation, part of which was in Finnish, and received the same and made it available to the panel and the defence.

Neelam, the Asian Games discus champion, is under provisional suspension for having returned a positive for the stimulant, pemoline, at the World championships in Helsinki last August. If the panel exonerates Neelam, the IAAF will have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Lausanne, if it was not in agreement with the decision. If found guilty, the Punjab athlete faces a two-year suspension.

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