The Hindu : IOA commission finds 21 guilty

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Thursday, May 01, 2003

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IOA commission finds 21 guilty

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 30. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday ruled that 21 of the 22 positive cases reported at the Hyderabad National Games were guilty of doping offences and were being stripped of their medals or placings.

The exception in the 22, swimmer Amar Muralidharan, who tested positive for steroid testosterone, will have at least a temporary reprieve as the Anti-Doping Commission takes up further medical investigations, as per rules, in order to prove beyond doubt that his higher testosterone-epitestosterone ratio was because of doping.

The positive cases in the Punjab National Games, reported to be more than 17, were not being taken up at all. It was an "educational'' exercise, the IOA President, Suresh Kalmadi, told a press conference on Wednesday.

In simpler terms, the Punjab positives are being swept under the carpet, as could have been expected after a gap of 16 months. A few of the federations, notably that in weightlifting did suspend a few competitors. That, too happened to be a diluted punishment, one-year suspensions for four lifters and one woman, Seema Thapar of Uttar Pradesh, being banned for life since her's was a second offence. All were steroid positives.

Asked what could happen to someone like Seema Thapar since several other Punjab cases were being allowed to lapse, Mr. Kalmadi was evasive.

The Chairman of the Medical Commission, Dr. Manmohan Singh, though he said that such cases could be taken up with the federations concerned, could not clarify satisfactorily whether any case from the Punjab batch testing positive in future would be considered as a ''first offence'' or not. The punishment for a second steroid offence is a life-ban.

Mr. Kalmadi tried to argue that a system did not exist for dope control during the Punjab National Games, spread over five cities, and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) lab was not fully equipped at that time.

Elaborate arrangements were indeed made for dope control during the Punjab Games. The SAI coughed out the money for it.

Even as the IOA evaded the Punjab Games question, it was firm in handling the Hyderabad Games cases. That no one has been spared so far is an `achievement' of sorts since such a large number in one batch has never been proclaimed guilty of doping in the Indian context.

The offenders were disqualified from the competition and were being reported to the federations concerned for appropriate punitive action as per norms, Mr. Kalmadi said. Two of the six federations involved, those in athletics and rowing, had already initiated action against the offenders.

Obviously because of the time-gap, four months from theend of the Games, the disciplinary procedures were far from perfect with the athletics and rowing federations handing out guilty verdicts even before the IOA had done that.

Dr. Manmohan Singh said that none of the 13 competitors who appeared before the Anti-Doping Commission on Wednesday, named any coach or official having provided them drugs other than vitamins etc. Most of them, expectedly, said that they had never taken anything.

Asked specifically about athlete Udaya Laxmi's reported comments about Andhra officials having given financial inducements for a doping programme, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that she did not answer any question related to the subject at the hearing.

Asked about cyclist Nijappa Yenteth's case, where the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) had alleged a possible manipulation by the competitor at the sample-giving stage, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that dope control forms did not corroborate such a theory. He added that in both the forms available with the commission, Yenteth had the same signature. The cyclist did, however, admit that he was in the habit of using two different signatures.

The CFI was looking into the possibility of another rider having impersonated for Yenteth while giving the sample after his gold in the 120km road race. He was penalised for a pseudoephedrine violation after his bronze win in the 30km individual time trial event.

Yenteth was hoping that he would be spared for the rest of the events after his initial race where he turned in the positive test. But `disqualification' being the fundamental principle behind all such sanctions, he actually had no case for any of the medals being restored.

The IOA Medical Commission was seeking the permission of the IOA to carry out checks during National camps, Dr. Manmohan Singh said. He said efforts were also being made to conduct educative programmes regarding doping and its harmful effects.

The following is the list of dope offenders at the Hyderabad Games who were found guilty (with banned substances in parenthesis):

Laxman Singh (Chandigarh-rowing, nandrolone), Gurvinder Singh (Punjab, volleyball, nandrolone), Ramandeep Singh (Chandigarh, athletics, mephentermine), Sukhjinder Singh (Chandigarh, athletics, mephentermine), Alapati Kalyani (A.P., athletics, nandrolone), P. Udaya Laxmi (A.P, athletics, nandrolone), Kavita Pandya (Maharashtra, athletics, nandrolone), Jagdish Basak (Punjab, athletics, nandrolone), Maha Singh (Haryana, athletics, mephentermine), Hridayanand Singh (A.P, athletics, ephedrine), D. Bhagyarajan (A.P, boxing, mesterolone), P. Srikanth (A.P, boxing, mephentermine), Sandeep Kumar (A.P., boxing, nandrolone, mephentermine), Nijappa Yenteth (A.P, cycling, pseudoephedrine), Seema Gulai (Bengal, weightlifting, nandrolone), Anita Kumari (Jharkhand, weightlifting, pseudoephedrine), Parmanand (Delhi, weightlifting, nandrolone), Tejinder Singh (Punjab, weightlifting, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine), Gurpreet Singh (Chandigarh, weightlifting, ephedrine), Venkateshwar Rao (A.P, weightlifting, nandrolone), Ranjit Singh (Chandigarh, weightlifting, mephentermine).

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