In sports marginal differences — in speed, strength and power — decide winners and losers. It is a pity that at times, unscrupulous sportspersons use performance-enhancing drugs to win. However, systematic large-scale doping — including by replacing tainted samples with clean ones — by a country itself is chilling (Editorial, “Doping to win: On Russia’s ban from global sporting events”, December 11). Delayed data sharing, and manipulation, only show the depth of the problem. What else other than hyper-nationalism can explain this better? No doubt, a good sportsperson who is clean in a corrupt system must not get punished. However, what about a good sportsperson who knew about the corrupt system and remained a mute spectator to that?
A. Venkatasubramanian,
Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu
