The Hindu : Sport : Sports medicine experts urged to help sportspersons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 19, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Sports medicine experts urged to help sportspersons

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Chairman of the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) Sports Commission, K.P. Singh Deo, on Sunday urged the sports medicine experts to help Indian sportspersons increase the country’s medals tally in the 2010 Commonwealth Games without resorting to performance-enhancing drugs.

Speaking at the concluding panel discussion on the final day of the three-day sports medicine conference, Sports Medcon 2007, Singh Deo, who is also the Chairman of the Games Technical Conduct Committee of the 2010 Games, said that doctors would have to come to the aid of sportsmen.

He cited the example of rowers who had benefited greatly from the year 2000 onwards through the scientific back-up provided by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

The Executive Director (Teams Wing), SAI, P.C. Kashyap, said that the Union Sports Ministry had already approved a sum of Rs. 661 crore for the preparation of Indian teams up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the SAI planned to set up 10 sports sciences centres around the country to co-ordinate the efforts towards training Indian sportspersons.

Out of the 51 sports disciplines contained in the 2008 Olympic Games, Pune Commonwealth Youth Games, the 2010 Asian Games and the New Delhi Commonwealth Games put together, 34 disciplines had been identified as those having reasonable medal chances for the country and these would get priority in the preparatory stage, Mr. Kashyap said.

Dope testing

National shooting coach Sunny Thomas suggested that shooters could be dope-tested just before important trials rather than prior to their departure for major competitions, as was the current practice, and there should be some provision to target test, on the advice of the chief coach, instead of doing around half-a-dozen random tests at national camps or a dozen tests during Nationals.

International shooter Moraad Ali Khan lamented the lack of expertise in preventing and treating sports-related injuries and said that many of the sportspersons were unaware of the prohibited substances leading to several “unfortunate incidents” in the international arena.

“We don’t have the support system to educate the sportspersons,” he said.

Higher standard

The President of the Indian Federation of Sports Medicine, Dr. P.S.M. Chandran, in his concluding remarks said that the quality of the papers presented this year were of a higher standard compared to the previous year.

He also stated that keeping the Commonwealth Games in mind, Delhi would host the National Conference of the IFSM till 2010.

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