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'Ignorance root cause of doping'
"Doping is a necessary evil with athletes across the globe. Believe me, drugs are taken by almost all the sportspersons of the world. But drugs should be taken properly in a right way." said former shot-putter Bakhtavar Khambata on her visit to Bhopal for the 78th All India Railways Athletics Championship on Friday. Shruti Tomar reports.
"Doping is a necessary evil with athletes across the globe. Believe me, drugs are taken by almost all the sportspersons of the world. But drugs should be taken properly in a right way. When a sportsperson fails to use it properly, he is tested positive in doping test like American cyclist Lance Armstrong" said former shot-putter Bakhtavar Khambata on her visit to Bhopal for the 78th All India Railways Athletics Championship on Friday.
Recalling her training camp held at Germany for Asian Championship in 1982 Bakhtavar said, "My German coach advised me to take drugs for increasing my performance. No sportsperson can work out that much without drugs but it should be taken in limited quantities. In India, sportspersons fail the dope test because they don't know how to wash out the drugs before a test."
Krishna Poonia's coach Virender Poonia said, "If an Olympian or athlete like Lance Armstrong fails the dope test, it happens by chance not voluntarily. In a year Krishna gave dope test 40 times. So the chances of taking drugs are not possible they can't even take medicines without doctor's prescriptions. I can't say whether Lance is a culprit or not but no athlete can do it after achieving this level."
"In India, doping can be controlled from the junior or school level. If the dope test starts to take place from the junior events, the evil can be removed from our country," he added. In India doping has become a big problem. After the ban on 4x100m women's relay team before Olympics it has become a matter of concern for all athletes.
Olympian and triple jumper Ranjith Maheshwary said, "Most of the athletes of our country belong to small towns and villages. They don't know what it means. They don't know the names of drugs which are not allowed even in the form of medicines. Lack of awareness is the major reason behind doping." Pole Vaulter KP Bimin said that sometimes players are caught in doping due to lack of knowledge of the coaches. During camps and events a player eats what his coach allows him to eat. To stop doping in India, training of coaches is the most important thing.
Former Olympian PT Usha said, "Doping is a sensitive case. Now in India dope tests have started to take place from the events like state championship and departmental championship."
What is doping: The use of performance-enhancing drugs in human sports is commonly referred to as doping, particularly by those organisations that regulate competitions. The use of drugs to enhance performance is considered unethical by most international sports organisations and especially the International Olympic Committee. The reasons for the ban are mainly the alleged health risks of performance-enhancing drugs, the equality of opportunity for athletes and the exemplary effect of clean (doping-free) sports for the public.
