The Hindu : Sport : Dope cases adjourned again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 22, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Dope cases adjourned again

Special Correspondent

Counsel for nine sportspersons, R.K. Anand, said he would prove NADA procedures were wrong

NEW DELHI: The doping cases involving wrestlers, athletes and swimmers who had tested positive for stimulant methylhexaneamine, were adjourned again on Thursday. They will now come up on November 3.

At least the wrestlers, three of them already named in the squad for the Asian Games, pleaded that the hearing process be speeded up so that they could go ahead and compete in the Games without any botheration.

Counsel for nine of the dozen sportspersons who had been charged with the stimulant violation, R.K. Anand, argued that methylhexaneamine was an ingredient of hair oils, massage oils, toilet soaps and other products. The noted lawyer had come armed with samples of some of these products.

Even before arguments could begin, the Chairman of the Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel, Dinesh Dayal, however, pointed out that the defence counsel would need to establish how the drug came into the body of the sportspersons.

It could also be expected that the counsel would be required to establish some basis for the argument that massage oil containing geranium oil, which in turn contains methylhexaneamine, would be excreted in urine in sufficient quantities to lead to a ‘positive' test after being absorbed through the skin. (A Chinese research paper, accessed by the Washington Post in an investigation the daily conducted on certain supplement in 2006, stated that geranium oil contained 0.66 per cent of methylhexaneamine).

The majority of the wrestlers had given written submissions of having used geranium oil for massage and that having resulted in the ‘positive' test. Anand sought to cross-examine 10 witnesses including NADA officials, Dope Control Officers (DCOs), chaperons and, in one instance, an attendant who carried the samples from the NADA office to the laboratory.

The NADA lawyer Rahul Kumar of Kanth and Associates, however, sought to know the reasons for such cross-examination. Time was granted for Anand to file an application.

Anand said he would prove that the whole NADA procedures were wrong; DCOs were not qualified and chain of custody of samples was flawed.

Rahul Kumar reminded him of NADA rule 20.2.3 which states: “All acts bona fide done by any person in the implementation of these anti-doping rules, notwithstanding that it be afterwards discovered that there was some defect in the appointment, qualification or authority of such person so acting, shall be as valid as if every such person had been duly appointed, qualified or authorized.”

Anand, who had initially taken up the briefs of five wrestlers (Rajeev Tomar, Mausam Khatri, Suman, Rahul Mann and Gursharanpreet Kaur), one athlete (Saurabh Vij) and three swimmers (Amar Muralidharan, Richa Mishra and Jyotsana Pansare), also took up the cases of athlete Akash Antil and wrestler Joginder.

Previous tests

Weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu, who also tested positive for methylhexaneamine, told the panel that she did not know how the substance came into her body. Her main argument was based on the fact that she had been tested four times prior to her August 7 ‘positive' and that should be taken into consideration.

Her July 29 test was an out of competition test in which stimulants would not have been tested. She was tested in-competition at the Nationals in February. Stimulants last in the system only for about 24 to 48 hours.

The panel has asked NADA to get records from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to show what supplements and medicines were given to the weightlifter who has been reported for a second violation. Since methylhexaneamine has been shifted to the category of ‘specified' substance, Chanu could only be facing a sanction ranging from two to four years. Chanu's case was adjourned till October 28.

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

Sport