Grapevine has it that after three days of wrestling bouts in the recently-held Khelo India Inter-University Games in Bengaluru, many wrestlers chose not to undergo dope test and vanished from the event.
The event organisers had to struggle a lot before they were all persuaded back and take dope test. The wrestlers who did the vanishing act after the event, according to sources, were either reluctant to undergo dope tests or were not properly educated and informed about the mandatory procedure by their respective university sports management.
But there is a silver lining as the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) was actively involved in spreading an anti-doping message among about 800 participants who had congregated there for this event.
With over 200 universities taking part in the event provides NADA a platform to engage university sports administrations to spread awareness about the bane of doping by organizing clinics and workshops. This will go a long way in developing anti-doping culture in Indian sports across disciplines and make it a clean enterprise. Maybe some years down the line, it would help India come clean internationally and spare it the shame that has become its hallmark in recent times.
A downside of the Bengaluru event was that there was less interest and enthusiasm among sportspersons, as they were focussing rather on the Commonwealth Games slated for July-August this year in Birmingham. The reason was made loud and clear. Sporting events like these did not offer them rewards that governments bestow upon Commonwealth Games medal winners.
Although it is almost impossible to get information about doping in Indian sports from officials, this single event underlines the fact that dope testing is yet to find acceptance among sportspersons. Despite the government guidelines making it mandatory for all medal winners to undergo dope test, the reluctance displayed by budding sportspersons in such a big sporting event brings to the fore the doping problem Indian sports has been tainted with at the international level.
As the Bengaluru University Games were progressing, the nation was shocked when news of Tokyo Olympian and India’s champion discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur failing dope test splashed across newspapers and TV screens on May 4. A year before in June 2021, two track-and-field athletes bound for Tokyo Olympics failed a dope test. Similarly, 11 athletes tested positive in 2019. Among this tainted lot were a former Asian junior medallist wrestler and a national boxing champion.
Doping has become a bane for Indian sports with 152 cases across disciplines and it has pushed the country to third place in doping in the world, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s 2019 report, slightly behind Russia and Italy.