While India has started the bidding process for two major events—the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics—the string of doping cases recently unearthed in athletics can dampen the chances of clinching the hosting rights.
From a bunch of minors testing positive to leading the World Anti-Doping Agency’s numbers, the doping saga could not be more embarrassing. It can hardly get worse for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), with two shocking news pieces in a week.
One athlete has tested positive for a banned substance during an exposure trip abroad—at tests conducted by the US anti-doping agency and had to be flown back. The next was the provisional suspension of a national coach who is also a Dronacharya awardee.
For the first time, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has provisionally suspended a junior chief national coach, Ramesh Nagpuri, for complicity, which is prohibited under NADA’S rule 2.9. Athletics is one of the most tainted sports in the country, with a coach already banned for four years for administering a prohibited substance to a minor athlete. The AFI announced last year that coaches of tainted athletes would be penalised, too. But it was NADA that imposed such a sanction.
In the latest NADA list of those provisionally suspended, there are three coaches. One coach has been suspended for an even more serious violation—administration of a prohibited substance. Two of three are athletics coaches. Both the Sports Authority and AFI must take these offences seriously.
What should be a bigger concern is that one is a national coach for junior athletes, who may not know much about doping and its adverse consequences at such a young age. If a coach aids or abets doping, it is indeed a serious offence.
All this indicates that the rot runs deep in India and the provisional suspensions could be the tip of an iceberg. NADA has been doing commendable job in testing top athletes from all disciplines and acting as a deterrent. As for the AFI, it must act fast as its reputation is at stake. Its new policy of decentralising national camps, too, has come under the scanner. The federation must swiftly come out from this mess.