'Some Asian Championship bound athletes yet to undergo dope tests'

New Delhi: At least 10 track and field athletes, mostly relay runners, are yet to undergo dope tests, though the Indian team for next month's Asian Championships in China leaves the country in three days' time, according to sources.

This may lead to a situation where India sends athletes to the championships whose dope status is not known as it is unlikely to get the results of the tests conducted on them before their May 30 departure.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has selected 20 athletes for the June 3-7 Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan and they will name the relay runners (men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400) after trials at NIS Patiala and Bangalore tomorrow.

It is learnt that the AFI has asked the NADA to take dope samples of the relay runners after the trials tomorrow and sources said that this was being done after some athletes, including women quartermilers, went missing when a World Anti-Doping Agency dope testing team visited the SAI-LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram early this month.

Significantly, the trials of the women's 4x400m relay, which was earlier scheduled to be held in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow, has been shifted to NIS Patiala. The quartermilers camping at SAI-LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram will now have trials at NIS Patiala where they will also give dope samples to a NADA team.

"It is not a secret that at least seven quartermilers went missing when a WADA team came calling at Thiruvananthapuram. Somebody tipped them off and they left the center the day prior to the WADA team arrives. I feel that the top brass of the AFI knew the seriousness of the situation and they have shifted the trial to Patiala from Thiruvananthapuram so that they undergo dope tests there," an athletics coach told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

"NIS Patiala is a place where dope testing is done on a regular basis and it's more difficult to escape testing there than at Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram camps," he said.

"It is not difficult to roughly know who could be selected in the relay team and taking these relay runners into account, it is clear that at least 10 athletes in the Asian Championships team are yet to undergo dope tests," he added.

Testing these relay runners at the eleventh hour runs the risk of India sending some athletes whose dope status is not known, though AFI officials said the results could be known before the departure of the team on May 30.

"The relay runners will undergo dope tests either tomorrow or May 28 and we have written to the NADA to send dope testing team for these tests," AFI Secretary C K Valson said.

Asked if the results will come on time before the departure of the team for Wuhan, Valson simply said, "We are hoping that the results will come 48 to 36 hours."

Repeated attempts to get NADA's response on whether it will be able to give results of dope samples in such a short time returned unanswered. India are a dominant force in Asia in women's 4x400m relay and the likes of M R Poovamma and Tintu Luka are unlikely to take part in tomorrow's trials as they are virtually automatic choices and they have also been named in the 20-member Indian team in their individual events. Ashwini Akkunji, who have already come out of a two-year ban after testing positive in the 2011 doping scandal, is also not expected to take part tomorrow.

AFI may find itself in a difficult situation if the results do not come on time before team departure as they will have to name the relay runners after tomorrow's trials and book their flight tickets and prepare travel documents.

"We have to sort that out but whatever decision we take, we will have to ensure that no dope cheat boards the flight or nobody from the Indian team is caught for doping during the Asian Athletics Championships. That will bring shame for the country," an AFI official said.

Asked why some of the Wuhan-bound athletes have not been tested yet, chief coach Bahadur Singh did not have a clear answer, saying that he can guarantee that those at the NIS Patiala have done so. "At NIS Patiala, dope testing is done frequently and so there is no issue here. But regarding the Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram camps, I have to check," Bahadur, who is based at NIS Patiala, said.

One reason that the AFI is not able to get the athletes dope tested could be that several athletes have not reported for national camps though no official was ready to come on record on this.

Sources said many athletes have not reported for camps after the Federation Cup in Mangalore early this month on one pretext or the other. Long jumper Ankit Sharma, who won a gold at Federation Cup, left Patiala without informing the AFI and joined at Thiruvananthapuram.

The AFI did not name him in the original team for the Asian Championships but later added after he sent an apology letter.