Around 25 athletes get NADA whereabouts notice during lockdown

There was no sample collection during the lockdown phase but NADA had to follow the guidelines and sent notices to all those athletes who failed to submit their ‘whereabouts’ three months in advance.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has sent notices to around 25 of the 110 athletes in its National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP) for failing to disclose their whereabouts during the national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doping, conceptual illustration. (Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)

There was no sample collection during the lockdown phase but NADA had to follow the guidelines and sent notices to all those athletes who failed to submit their ‘whereabouts’ three months in advance. The body did not disclose the names of those who have been sent notices.

“All athletes in NRTP of NADA are required to submit their whereabouts every 3 months in advance. Those who fail to do so have been issued notices. Three such notices amount to Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) for which an athlete can be suspended for upto 4 years,” NADA tweeted from its official handle.

“Around 20 to 25 athletes have been issued notices. It needs to be clear that there hasn’t been violation by these athletes. It’s just that it’s in guidelines that they still have to submit their whereabouts even if it’s a lockdown,” a NADA official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Asked why banned shot-putter Inderjeet Singh’s name is still there in the RTP list, the official said that even those who are serving suspension sentences for doping offences are retained.

“It is a rule that an athlete who is serving suspension will have his name in the list.”