Athletics Federation of India focuses on menace of doping and age fraud at its Annual meeting 

Doping in India was, among other issues, on the agenda of the Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) two-day Annual General Assembly Meeting that concluded on Saturday, in Chandigarh.

Adille Sumariwala, president of the AFI, had an interaction with the media on Saturday where he highlighted how the organisation is dealing with the menace of doping.

”The AFI has zero tolerance towards doping. We have been fighting the menace of doping for long. We are working with the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to try and keep athletics clean at all levels.”

Doping isn’t widespread at the grassroots level in India, but elite Indian athletes too have been under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) scanner.

Post 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, two elite Indian athletes - javelin thrower Shivpal Singh and discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur have failed dope tests for performance enhancing drugs and have been provisionally suspended. Both Singh and Kamalpreet represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The AFI president reiterated that the core group of athletes in the camp don’t take performance enhancing drugs but it can't fully monitor athletes outside its camps.

“Athletes outside the camp can’t be monitored. The AFI isn’t a law-enforcing agency and takes action against the culprits. But the federation gives valuable inputs to the NADA to follow the athletes who are on the wrong track."

Other issues taken up by Athletics Federation of India

Overage was another issue that AFI deliberated during the AGM in Chandigarh, the organisation's president informed the media.

“The AFI has been able to check age fraud in age group competitions at the national level."

On the progression front, Sumariwala expressed satisfaction over the performance of elite jumpers in the build-up to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Eugene World Athletics Championships.

“We have two men’s long jumpers, Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin, who have recorded jumps above 8.25m at domestic competitions. Even two triple jumpers, Abdulla Aboobacker and Karthik U, have crossed 17m mark on home soil. It’s a good sign.”

The AFI also launched Kids Javelin to sustain the momentum set by India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. The star Indian javelin thrower himself launched the project via video conference as he is training in Europe.

Kids javelin weighs 300 grams to ensure the safety of the youngsters. At the senior level, the weight of the javelin is 800 grams.