The Hindu : Sport / Weightlifting : Indian federation does a somersault

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Sunday, Jun 10, 2007
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Sport - Weightlifting

Indian federation does a somersault

K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI: A day after telling a wire agency that dope-tainted and suspended lifters Shailaja Pujari and B. Prameelavalli were being brought back into the national camp, the Secretary-General of the Indian Weightlifting Federation Balbir Singh Bhatia said on Saturday that the move had been dropped.

A mistake

"We made a mistake; we won't allow them back into the camp. Our idea was only to get medals for the country," said Mr. Bhatia.

In a shocking move, unknown to the media, the Indian federation mooted the idea of allowing Pujari and Prameelavalli into the national camp at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, Patiala, and actually managed to let the latter train with the national team with the apparent concurrence of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Mr. Bhatia said on Saturday that Prameelavalli had trained at the NIS from sometime in April. She had gone back to her hometown because of personal pre-occupation and could have been expected to rejoin had the federation not retracted its step. Pujari did not attend the camp but was being persuaded to do so.

The duration of Prameelavalli's stay at the NIS is not known. But that has become immaterial since the fact that she was allowed to train at the institute along with other national probables, even as she was serving a suspension, should raise several questions.

Prameelavalli and Pujari were suspended by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) following positive reports for steroids from samples collected at Patiala by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) in February last year. Their suspensions run up to March 2008.

For Pujari, this was her second doping offence, having turned in a "positive'' at the 2003 junior National in Chennai for which she was suspended. The Indian federation, however, chose not to impose a life-ban as prescribed for a second offence. Apparently the IWF has not raised a query, probably because the first test happened to be at the Dope Control Centre (DCC) here, a non-accredited laboratory.

The Union Sports Ministry does not allow suspended athletes or those charged with doping violations to attend national camps. Normally instructions are issued by the Teams Wing of the SAI to evict such athletes from Government-funded camps the moment positive tests are known. Such athletes are kept away until cases are resolved.

PTI quoted Mr. Bhatia in Friday's report to state that SAI Director-General (Ratan Watal) was also in favour of having the two suspended lifters attend the camp in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Mr. Watal was not available for comment on Saturday.

The Executive Director of the Teams Wing, SAI, P.C. Kashyap, speaking from Chandigarh, explained: "We were only prepared to provide some facilities since the lifters were to return to competition after their suspensions. We were not extending any financial assistance."

IWF rules

No one seemed to have an understanding of the rules governing such cases. This is what the relevant IWF article (15.9) states: "No person who has been declared ineligible may, during the period of ineligibility, participate in any capacity in an event or activity (other than authorised anti-doping education or rehabilitation programmes) authorised or organised by the IWF or any National Federation. In addition, for any anti-doping rule violation not involving specified substances described in Article 15.3, some or all sports- related financial support or other sports-related benefits received by such person will be withheld by the IWF and its National Federations." In its comment to the relevant article (10.9), the WADA Code says: "This article adopts the position set forth in the OMADC (Olympic Movement Anti Doping Code) that an athlete who is made ineligible for doping should not participate in any capacity in an authorised event or activity during the ineligibility period. This would preclude, for example, practicing with a national team, or acting as a coach or sports official."

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