The Hindu : Sport : `Say no to drugs'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

`Say no to drugs'

NEW DELHI: "Say no to drugs". This was the predominant theme at the seminar on drug abuse organised by the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Delhi, in collaboration with the Health Fitness Trust and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) here on Monday.

Though essentially it was a seminar devoted to recreational drugs and its abuse as well as the harmful effects of alcohol and smoking, a good portion of it was also pertained to drug abuse in sports.

The director, sports medicine, Sports Authority of India (SAI), Dr. P.S.M. Chandran, who made the main presentation on doping in sports, said that it was a medical problem and a social evil like alcohol consumption and smoking. He provided an overview about the type of drugs that are banned, their harmful effects, the attempts of the sportspersons to cheat and the new dangers lurking in the form of gene doping.

Dr. Alka Beotra, deputy scientific director, SAI, who works in the Dope Control Centre (DCC), explained the functioning of the lab and its proficiency. She said that the Delhi lab could be compared to the best of such facilities anywhere in the world and disclosed that it had acquired an IRMS machine last January to complete the upgradation required for the WADA accreditation.

Olympian Gurbachan Singh Randhawa urged the authorities to carry out dope tests at the level of the National School Games and all-India universities championships so that the menace could be controlled from a young age.

Former Asian marathon champion Sunita Godara, who organised the `race against drub abuse' on June 26 here, to coincide with the international day against drub abuse, was again in the forefront in organising this seminar.

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