NEW DELHI: New Delhi: A rising number of Indian sportspersons using drugs to enhance their performances has led India’s National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) to take a first-ever initiative. To keep a check on drug abuse by offenders, NADA will now keep a watch on players travelling abroad; it’ll check their belongings and will lift their blood samples for dope at airports.
The decision comes in the wake of an incident in May, in which a top Indian athlete was allegedly caught with the banned drug Meldonium, used in Russia. It was found that athlete Jithin Paul had got it from abroad.
NADA officials said drugs and syringes were seized during a raid at Paul’s room at National Institute of Sports, Patiala. Investigations confirmed the drug seized was Meldonium, which was made in Russia. Officials said Paul had gone to Turkey for training, and it is suspected he got the drug there.
“Incentives are increasing so the tendency to use drugs has also gone up. Our aim is to detect doping, create awareness and to promote ethical values in sports,” said NADA chief Naveen Agarwal.
He said that while 2016 saw 73 players and athletes being banned for drug abuse, the first six months of 2017 has revealed the rising trend with 50 cases.
Agarwal added that NADA has written to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about collecting blood samples from airports with the help of Customs officials.
Sources said NADA will be informed in advance about players’ foreign trips and training schedules abroad.
In the past few years, there have been some high-profile doping cases involving substances such as Stanozolol, Nandrolone and Metandienone, according to officials of the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA).
Apart from these, new drugs have also been used, as in the cases of athlete Jithin Paul and shotputter Manpreet Kaur.Kaur, a gold medallist in the just-concluded Asian Athletics Championships, failed a dope test for the banned Dimethylbutylamine last week.
A few months ago, India goalkeeper Subrata Paul was provisionally suspended after Terbutaline (Beta-2-Agonist) was detected in his urine sample.Wrestler Narsingh Yadav was banned hours before his bout at the Rio Olympics on a doping charge in August 2016. He tested positive for banned anabolic steroid Methandienone.
In April 2015, 21 weightlifters were provisionally suspended by the Indian Weightlifting Federation after they tested positive for banned substances across different championships.