CHENNAI: Anti-doping watchdog National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and even the Sports Authority of India have been advocating no needle policy at national camps across the country. In fact, NADA has been urging national sports federations (NSFs) to adopt such measures that would help curb doping. The Athletics Federation of India has such a policy and had expelled athletes who had syringes and needles in their possession in the past. Other federations, like wrestling, too have such policies.
So it came as a surprise when a few men's freestyle wrestlers, who represented the country at the recently-concluded Asian Championships, apparently had to show invoices for a bunch of needles they were possessing while departing from Astana, Kazakhstan. It is learnt that at least five wrestlers were asked to furnish documents after check-in. Since it was not related to any banned or prohibited substances, the wrestlers were given the clearance to board the flight.
"We had completed the immigration and were queued up for security check when the names of these wrestlers were called out as their luggage bags contained syringes. We carried on with security check while these wrestlers joined us later after producing bills for the syringes," a source who was with the team confirmed to this daily.
The team comprising men's Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers apart from the women grapplers was selected and cleared by the Oversight Committee of the sports ministry for the championships.
A source from the SAI too acknowledged the development but said the wrestlers didn't violate 'no needle policy' as they were not banned substances. "It's true that the names of a few wrestlers were called out at the airport. The injections they were carrying along with the food supplements are not something that is banned by NADA," a SAI source who was with the team told this daily.
The source also claimed that the wrestlers have forgotten the bills because of which their names were called out. "The problem was they were not carrying the bills. The other wrestlers have the same products but they have the bills. The wrestlers in question have forgotten the bills at the hotel. They then called their hotel and the bills were found in their rooms. They requested the authorities for pictures of the bills and showed them after receiving them on their phones at the airport.
They were allowed to leave after that. No action was taken against anyone as none of the things they were carrying is banned by World Anti-Doping Agency. When we say no needle policy, we mean to say no needle which has banned substances. The idea is to have a clean sport and for it to happen, banned substances shouldn't be used," the SAI source added. Interestingly there have been instances when athletes were removed from national camps for possession of needles even without banned substances.