Ten players who participated in the selection trials for the World Cup kabaddi tournament to be held in Punjab have tested positive.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) which conducted the tests at Ludhiana recently stated in a release on Wednesday that out of the 21 samples for which reports had come, 10 had turned up ‘positive'. Thirty more samples were yet to be tested.
Steroids stanozolol, nandrolone and boldenone and stimulant phentermine were detected in the urine samples.
The NADA Director-General, Rahul Bhatnagar, said because of the high percentage of positive cases reported from kabaddi the overall impact was affected, sending a “wrong signal” to the sporting world.
He said NADA had communicated to the Director, Sports, Punjab, that the kabaddi World Cup in Punjab should not “degenerate into a farce”.
Last year, 13 of the 29 samples collected during the initial round of the trials had come ‘positive' forcing the organisers to order additional trials. Follow-up action, if any, had been rather tardy since players were difficult to trace once they test positive, leaving the hearing process in limbo for months. The regular Indian kabaddi team that competes in competitions like the Asian Games has no relationship with the World Cup in Punjab.
