The National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (NADAP), on an application from the four female 400m runners, who had been suspended for anti-doping rule violations, has sought the report of the one-man Justice Mukul Mudgal committee.
On the first day of hearing of an appeal from the World Anti–Doping Agency (WADA) seeking enhancement of suspensions for the quarter-milers, on Wednesday, the athletes moved an application seeking a copy of the Mudgal panel report.
The NADAP, headed by Justice C.K. Mahajan (retd.) in its interim order stated that the Mudgal committee report be summoned from the Government to be placed before it in a sealed cover. It would then pass appropriate orders on perusal of the report. The hearing will resume on February 21.
The Mudgal committee was appointed by the Union Sports Ministry to look into the whole gamut of doping in sports in India. It had submitted an interim report to the ministry sometime in November last but the contents were kept under wraps in order to allow the disciplinary proceedings to be completed.
Even as the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel (NADDP), headed by Dinesh Dayal, reserved its order, the Mudgal panel report was ‘leaked' to a section of the media.
The report apparently absolved the athletes, put the blame on foreign coach Yuriy Ogordonik and stated that the doping incident was accidental following the consumption of ginseng by the athletes.
The defence lawyer, R.K. Anand, who said on Wednesday that he had failed to get a copy of the Mudgal report despite an application to the Government, had unsuccessfully attempted to bring in the report through the disciplinary panel proceedings earlier.
The WADA lawyer, Gajendra Kumar of Kanth and Associates, wondered what the intention of the respondents could be in seeking the report at this stage when they had not pressed for it during the disciplinary panel proceedings. He doubted whether the Mudgal report would have any relevance in the current proceedings.
Neither the enquiry conducted by the Mudgal panel nor the investigation and subsequent report submitted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Executive Director, P.C. Kashyap, can be deemed to have any bearing on the disciplinary proceedings against the athletes.
However, the findings of the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) about the supplements purportedly “seized” from the athletes, having been brought in during the disciplinary panel hearings, would continue to be of relevance.
Strange phenomenon
The WADA lawyer on Wednesday brought into focus the strange phenomenon of one athlete (Tiana Mary Thomas) turning up ‘positive' for two steroids and another (Sini Jose), tested on the same day as the former, showing only one steroid in her urine sample.
Six athletes including the above two had purportedly consumed the same ginseng that the coach bought from Guangzhou at the time of the last Asian Games.
Two other athletes, Ashwini A.C., and Priayanka Panwar, are in the batch who had appealed to the Mahajan panel to reduce their suspensions.
The panel had reserved its order when WADA intervened and filed a counter appeal seeking enhanced suspensions.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is expected to appeal the decision of one-year suspension imposed on two other athletes, Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). They were tested by the IAAF last May while the others were tested by the NADA in June.
