The Hindu : Marshals on prowl to thwart dope 'trick'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Marshals on prowl to thwart dope 'trick'

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD DEC. 15. Athletes. Beware! The `special marshals' are keeping a watch on you at all the National Games venues. The Indian Olympic Association seems determined to take dope control measures if the sight of fully `armed' medical personnel at different competition venues is any indication. Already more than 60 samples have been collected till late Sunday night from different venues.

Gaurav Sharma, Dope Control Officer at Hockey Stadium, said there are eight dope control centres here and another three in Vizag. How will they go about the whole process? "There are `special marshals' at each venue to identify athletes or players. However, this need not necessarily be the final choice. But, their opinion will be given a serious thought. Basically, it will be random sampling done by draw of lots to identify athletes who should undergo doping tests," he said. In individual disciplines almost all the medallists will be under scrutiny while in team competitions testing may well commence from the knock-out phase.

The effort of IOA is to create awareness on the seriousness in the long run for athletes who take banned steroids. "The message is simple - ecstasy through short-cut can well lead to permanent agony in the future," says Dr. Sharma.

Once the athletes are identified, their samples will be taken after the competition. They will be given an hour's time to dole out their sample after signing the dope control notification. Interestingly, athletes themselves will give the samples in sealed and sterilised beakers which would be opened before the Dope Sampling Officer.

Athletes are given the option of choosing from a kit of six. At the time of collecting samples, the dope control officers also check the specific intensity and the PH (which indicates whether anything is mixed with the sample). Primarily there will be two samples - Sample A (50 ml) and Sample B (25 ml). The samples will be sealed and given specific numbers. To avoid any mix-up, the Dope Control Officers also record the details on paper and cross check with the athletes to avoid any difference of opinion later.

The samples are then sent under strict security cover to the headquarters at Lal Bahadur Stadium and then flown to the Delhi dope testing lab, the only one in India. It is the IOA, which is the deciding authority when to declare whether someone has been tested positive or not.

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