By IANS
Pune : For the first time in the history of Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG), the athletes will be subjected to anti-doping tests. The third CYG are scheduled to be held in Pune later this year.
According to Dr Munish C. Batish, director of doping control of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Delhi 2010, this “outreach program” is more towards educating the young athletes.
“World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) felt it is important to start the programme at the grass-root level since the athletes at the youth games are the future of the main games, so these measures will help eradicate the menace,” said Batish.
Thus CYG committee has started training professionals for conducting anti-doping tests. About 85 volunteers will be picked up for training. The prerequisite to be an anti-doping chaperon is a physical education background, and to be a doping control officer one needs to be a MBBS or a post-graduate in sports medicine.
Meanwhile, Indian sports will finally have its WADA accredited lab which can be used for all dope tests in India. According to Batish, the lab at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi meets most of the criterion and before the Commonwealth Games start, its licence would be in place.
The anti-doping commission of the CYG plans to use the personnel it is training right now for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi. “Since this requires specialised talent, we are now creating a data base for such qualified dope testers,” said Batish.
The Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune is conducting training workshops in Pune. Lt. Col. S.K. Ghai of the ASI said, “We have ample experience in this field. Right now at our institute, we are training athletes for Olympics also. We have also been part of the doping control programs in various international meets.”
To begin with, only 127 tests will be conducted during the course of the CYG as against 2000 tests scheduled for Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010.
The organisers say doping is not common among the youth, and if they are educated about the side effects of such performance enhancing drugs, they would stay away from such drugs.