For years, the media has been talking about the strange happenings at national camps and have questioned the decision to have it in countries like Ukraine.
“This would not have happened had people cared to listen to it and acted on the issue,” said P.T. Usha on Wednesday, reacting to the news of top quarter-milers Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu falling into the dope net.
“Right from 1998, a lot of news has come in newspapers, and regularly too, but we did not care,” she said. “But now, the Government should order an immediate enquiry and pull up the people behind all this. This could be our biggest doping scandal in athletics,” said Usha.
“This is the first time our two top athletes have fallen into the dope net,” she said. “The 4x400m relay has been our strong event for long; we have won gold at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games and to have two of our leading relay runners in the dope net is a very serious issue.”
Usha also said her trainee Tintu Luka would be ready to run the 4x400m relay if the country needed her for the event. “Tintu has always been in the top four in the country in the 400m after 2006. But she has always been ignored,” said Usha. “Of course, she will be ready to run the relay if needed.”
Tintu, the 800m bronze medallist at the Guangzhou Asian Games, also won the Open National 400m gold last year.
