`Administrators must share blame for doping mess`

New Delhi: Athletes` support staff and the administrators must share the blame for the doping mess India finds itself in at the moment, feels PSM Chandran, a former director of sports medicine at Sports Authority of India.

Indian athletics was rocked after woman quartermilers Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu tested positive in an out-of-competition test conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the Patiala camp. "If these athletes are culpable of doping offence, so are their coaches, support staff and the sports administrators," Chandran said."Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu are not criminals, they are victims of a system. Doping in sports is not an individual effort, it is a team effort. A positive dope test in a top class athlete is not an individual failing, but it is a system failure," he added. It has been reported that both the athletes have, in their preliminary explanations, stated that they had not taken anything that could have led to these `positive` tests and they had only consumed supplements being provided at the national camp, and Chandran is least surprised."It is not surprising that Mandeep and Jauna are blaming the food supplements provided at Patiala for their positive dope tests. It is a fashion now for athletes to put the blame on food supplements when they are caught on doping. Mandeep is found positive for a cocktail of three anabolic steroids and Jauna for two of them," he said. PTI