Indian athletes' doping saga: Seeking shortcut to success

Sachin Chowdhary brings disrepute to India

India was left embarrassed at the Commonwealth Games 2014 being held in Glasgow on Thursday after para-power lifter Sachin Choudhary was tested positive for a banned substance in a dope test conducted by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) last month.

Choudhary, the winner of silver medals in both the APC Cup as well as in the World Championships in 2009 in the 82.5 kg, left Glasgow earlier in the week on the pretext of his father's deteriorating health. However, it was revealed later that he was found doping a month ago.

The athlete who took part in the 2013 London Summer Paralympics was initially not in the list of players going to the Games as the Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) wanted to send only medal prospects to Glasgow. However,he was included later before NADA barred him from playing.

PCI Secretary J Chandrashekhar is mulling slapping a life ban on him as he has "brought immense disrespect to the country on an international platform." PCI president Rajesh Tomar is however waiting for Chaudhary's B splendid results before a final decision is taken, and is glad he was caught before the powerlifting event began on August 2.

India's Doping History

The NADA became fully operational in 2009 and has collected 9898 dope samples since then. Out of them, a staggering 500 failed the test, with as many as 113 track and field athletes listed. According to a survey conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IIAF), India was ranked second in the number of doping "cheats" in 2013 with 43 cases second only to Russia which had 44 athletes being reported.

Along with athletics, kabaddi (with 58 doping cases), body building (51 ) and wrestling (41) were the other Indian sports which saw large number of players being banned last year.This revelation surprised many in the federation as last year was particularly a lean year for athletics with no major event being staged. Officials in the Sports Authority of India believe that "usually the lowest levels of Indian players dope as they look for easy methods to reach the top and compete at an international arena."

The tainted Indians

Only two Indians find themselves in the list of Olympic offenders. Sanamacha Chanu and Pratima Kumari, both weightlifters, were packed off in a humiliating fashion at Athens 2004 after they were caught infusing drips and taking injections. Chanu was tested positive for furosemide and Pratima had high levels of testosterone. Chanu, winner of 3 gold medals at the 2002 CWG was tested positive again in the 2010 CWG trials, which lead to an 8 year ban.

Sanamacha Chanu tested positive twice and is facing an 8 year ban

Seema Antil, discus thrower, lost her gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Chile in 2002, while Satheesha Rai was stripped off her weightlifting gold medal after being found guilty in the 2002 CWG.

Ram Yadav who came sixth in the 2010 CWG is another "tainted" athlete. Neelam Singh was banned from taking part in the 2005 Weightlifting World Cup after WADA tested her positive. Prior to the Delhi Games, Sourabh Vij, a shot-putter along with 4 wrestlers and 2 swimmers were withdrawn from the event. Vij, accepting his mistake, added that "the pressure to perform at home made me take the banned substances." Another shot-putter P Laxmi was found guilty in the Asian Championships held last year in Pune. However, the biggest shame for the nation was brought about by the 4x400 metres women's relay team, gold medalists at the Delhi Games as well as the Asian Games in 2010. Ashwini Akkunji, also the winner of the individual 400 metre relay, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur were the members of the team, who were banned by IAAF for a year, after it was accused that their Ukranian coach provided them with food supplements which contained the banned supplements. As they did not take the drugs intentionally, the IAAF took a lenient measure towards them.Akkunjis gold medal and Mandeep’s silver, which they won in the National Inter-State Championships in 2011 were taken away.

Besides these players, Kavita Devi, Sachin Kumar, Alka Rani, Anil Kumar, Priyanka Panwar and Juana Murmu are some Indians who have been caught.

The step ahead

India has won only 26 Olympic medals in 113 and the athletics chief selector GS Randhawa states poor infrastructure and poverty for this. Motivated by the desire to win the elusive medal, often the athletes consume banned pills, which usually cost 25 cents, so that they can boost their performances and compete with the foreign opponents. The sports federations along with the Sports Ministry should assign funds to improve the sporting infrastructure in the nation. The players and coaches must be educated of the consequences of doping and the banning of the dope offenders from receiving the Arjuna Award will motivate them to abstain from the wrong things. From 17% cases in 1997, the level of doping incidents has dropped down to 5.1% in 2011 thanks to the frequent tests conducted by the NADA on the players. If these sudden tests are more frequent, there's no reason why the numbers won't drop further.

Akkunji, whose ban ended last month and is now competing in the Glasgow Games has learnt her lesson and says, "All Indians should abstain from such evils and look to do the tricolor proud by their sheer hard work. " If only the other athletes can follow suit.