The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is stepping up an ambitious program to combat doping in sports and stop the scourge from escalating in the region, a top official said yesterday.
Mani Jegathesan, chairman of the medical committee of the OCA, said Asian sports personalities continue to be caught for consuming banned performance-enhancing drugs.
“The fact remains that at any time we are doing [doping] tests, we come up with positive cases,” he said on the sidelines of an international sports congress.
“We accept now that doping in sports is part of the current sports landscape but we are putting in place the mechanism to contain the problem and eliminate it,” he said.
Without giving specific details, Jegathesan said that high on the action plan was imposing stiffer punishments on athletes who cheat, and conducting random testing during training and competition.
“We have to start off with punishment,” he said, adding that the authorities would deter drug taking by not only testing individuals but providing education on the dangers of consuming banned drugs.
Jegathesan added that the Olympic Council of Asia had forged a pact with the World Anti-Doping Agency to strengthen surveillance during the Asian Games.
“The chance to win big money and the rewards are push factors that attract athletics to take drugs. It is the part of a culture to win at any cost,” he said.
In Asia, sports with high incidents of doping include body-building, weightlifting and to some extent track and field.
“We recognise there is this gap between the cheaters and the catchers. We are doing everything to narrow the gap,” he said. “If we do not take action, this will provide incentive to cheaters to escalate the usage of drugs to boost their performance. Asia is not immune to doping.”
At the last Asian Games in Qatar, weightlifters and bodybuilders from Myanmar and Uzbekistan were among those testing positive, while a Vietnamese gymnast and a North Korean shooter failed dope tests at the Beijing Olympics.
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