WADA raps NADA, says results management under review
Taking a dim view of the functioning of the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), the world anti-doping watchdog expressed concern, saying they are reviewing the testing and result management programme of the Indian body.
The sports ministry, under whose perimeter the NADA falls, however has insisted there have been no delays except in some cases where further scrutiny was required. Reacting to an Indian Express report published on May 25 (Dope watchdogs in deep freeze), both the sports ministry and the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), coincidentally emailed their responses one week later on Monday. The story highlighted the procedural lapses at NADA, leading to delays in reporting dope test results and the subsequent hearings. It was not known whether Indian athletes competing in international tournaments were ‘clean’.
While the sports ministry maintained there have been no lapses, the WADA has taken a serious note of the situation and said if ‘we observe no progress, we will take the step of providing full details to the Compliance Review Committee, which was formed in February this year.’ The committee’s role, according to WADA, is to provide advice, guidance and recommendations on important compliance matters.
“We have expressed concern with certain aspects of the Indian National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) programme. We are also reviewing the Indian NADA’s testing and results management structures, including the provision of appeals processes, to ensure that cases are dealt with in a more timely and expedited fashion,” WADA spokesperson Ben Nichols said. He added that the world governing body had tried to facilitate a partnership between the NADA and Australian Anti Doping Agency (ASADA). But ‘significant delays’ in the process means that it has still not come to fruition. “We have expressed the need for the organisations to meet and initiate such a partnership, but there have been significant delays in the process, not least because of the absence of a Director General within the Indian NADA,” Nichols added. It is learnt that sports ministry is reviewing the possibility of tie-up.
WADA said the dope testing authorities can exceed the recommended 10-day window under certain circumstances. However, it added: “Any laboratory that regularly and excessively misses this 10-day recommendation may be requested by WADA to remedy the situation and, if the problem does persist, this has the potential to result in a laboratory site visit by WADA.”
In its defence, the ministry has said out of the 576 samples they tested at the Kerala National Games and Youth National Athletics Championships, 92 percent were reported within the stipulated period of 10 days. “Three percent were reported within 16 working days. It is only five percent of the total samples which were reported later and the last sample was reported within 45 days,” the ministry said. “The samples which were reported late were for certain confirmatory tests which require more time to ensure validity of results.” Sources at NDTL had claimed that one of the reasons for the delay was a dysfunctional air conditioner. According to the rules, samples have to be stored in controlled temperatures to ensure they are not contaminated. The ministry said the storage of samples was not affected as all samples ‘were stored in cold room’.
