New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Education remains the first line of defence against doping, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Director General Anant Kumar said on Thursday, recognising the “evolving” nature of the menace which requires constant upgrade in monitoring mechanism.
At the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) Final Conference here, Kumar sat with WADA officials as they highlighted India’s consistently poor doping record while expressing hope for a better future.
Kumar said NADA is trying to keep pace with the changing dynamics of doping, the latest challenge being the involvement of organised crime syndicates in the supply of banned Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).
WADA has been coordinating with the INTERPOL to gather intelligence and disrupt the supply chains created by such criminals.
“NADA is committed to testing and also intelligence gathering. We are now testing close to 8,000 athletes annually, which was about 4,000 till 2019. We have expanded our Registered Testing Pool (RTP) and also created a secondary RTP to widen the net,” Kumar said.
“I believe education is our first line of defence and that’s why it is heartening that there have been half a million searches on the ‘Know Your Medicine’ app by athletes who are increasingly conscious of what they are taking.
“We are mindful of the evolving challenges but we are addressing them too,” he added.
To address the criminal aspect of doping, NADA has been coordinating closely with WADA’s Intelligence and Investigation wing. The country hosted two workshops last year in which Dope Control Officers were trained about interrogation techniques while dealing with suspected suppliers and athletes.
“The coordination has got us tremendous benefits. We have upscaled our intelligence gathering thanks to CBI’s involvement and also got improved training in interrogation techniques. We have also resolved about 80 cases after being tipped off through the ‘Speak Up’ initiative,” he said. PTI PM PM PDS PDS
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