Centre to establish dietary supplements testing labs: Sports Secretary

NEW DELHI: To prevent "inadvertent" use of prohibited substances by the athletes, the government will establish laboratories for testing dietary supplements, sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi said on Saturday.

Many sports persons, after failing dope tests, have claimed that they ingested prohibited substances 'inadvertently' through dietary supplements.

Chaturvedi emphasised having regulated testing facilities for dietary supplements.

"We recently entered into an MoU with the National Forensic Science University, Ahmedabad and the Food Safety Standards Authority of India, for a lab to help with the dietary supplement testing," Chaturvedi said at a function organised by FICCI.

"We are now heading towards a completely revamped national anti-doping programme housed in our National Anti-doping Agency," Chaturvedi said during the TURF2022 & India Sports Awards event.

In August, the Parliament passed the National Anti-Doping Bill which seeks to provide a statutory framework for the functioning of the National Anti-Doping Agency and the National Dope Testing Laboratory.

Chaturvedi said the country's overall sports development has been on the right path this year and that they are working on starting women's leagues in a big way.

"We've had archery, football and various other sports coming into these leagues. I can assure you it's going to be a huge deal in the coming years because we support inclusion in sports."

Legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George underlined the unique potential of sports in empowering women.

"Women in sports defy the perception that they are weak or incapable," she said. "In many countries, it has been seen that sport can be a force to amplify the human voice and tear down gender barriers and discrimination."

Ace table tennis player Manika Batra said, "Sports has taught me to be brave, strong, and never give up in life. Just be fearless and do whatever you want to do."