The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) will collect around 30 samples, including those of targetted athletes, during the two-day Indian Grand Prix track and field meet (IGP V), which concludes here on Monday.
With athletics set to contribute the bulk of the medals for the country at the Hangzhou Asian Games (September 23 to October 8), NADA apparently wants to ensure all the participants are dope-free.
Continuing the anti-doping education and awareness activities for the Indian contingent participating in the upcoming Asian Games 2022 in Hangzhou, China, NADA India conducted an interactive workshop for 140+ athletes and support personnel from 8 sports. pic.twitter.com/tAeC049xak— NADA India (@NADAIndiaOffice) September 6, 2023
A target of 30 samples can be considered to be a good number, taking into account that this is not a national championship and all the events in a full-scale nationals are not being competed here.
Two doping control officers (DCOs) of the NADA have come here from Delhi for the IGP V, which began on Sunday.
It is learnt that the NADA officials in Delhi have given instructions to take around 30 samples.
“Some samples will be from those among top-three finishers, some will be random samples. Moreover, some specific names of athletes have been given (by NADA in Delhi) to the DCOs to take samples from them,” a source privy to the developments told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Athletics contributed 20 medals, including eight gold, in a total of 70 during the the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwalla has predicted the country will surpass that number in Hangzhou.
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Some officials said India can win more than 25 medals in Hangzhou, considering the impressive performance of the athletes in the recent World Championships and Asian Championships.
The Indian athletics team will leave for Hangzhou September 25 or 26 as the events begin only on September 29.
According to sources, participants can enter the Asian Games Village only three days prior to the start of competition of each sport.
Earlier this month, star sprinter Hima Das was provisionally suspended by the NADA for three whereabout failures in 12 months.
In July, National Inter-State Championships women’s 400m champion Anjali Devi, last year’s Federation Cup gold medallist discus thrower Kirpal Singh and top shot putter Karanveer Singh (who won silver in National Inter-State) tested positive for banned drugs.
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