 |
|
| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, September 7, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
|
Do Indians really have the drug habit? Hockey’s ‘golden girl’ TEEING-OFF Doping scenario getting murkier |
|
|
Do Indians really have the drug habit? A couple of years back came the shocking admission from some athletes that the coach assigned to them was in the habit of giving injections. What injections or what were the after effects was something which was not very revealing. Then there was the case of drugs being found in the suitcases of sportspersons at the NIS of Patiala last year. An official report of the investigating agency is still to surface. Add to these instances was the confirmation in the Delhi High Court last year that over 257 sportspersons had been tested dope-positive by the laboratory attached to the Sports Authority of India in Delhi. These reports, coming one after the other in the course of the past two years, only confirms what has been hitherto dealt as suspicion. The naked truth is that Indian sportspersons have finally involved themselves in the world league of drug taking to enhance performances. But though reports of athletes and weightlifters being caught at the international level has made big news and efforts have been reportedly made at every level to catch the culprits and root out the evil at the national level, drug taking for enhanced performances is still something not understood fully. That is the only explanation which can be offered by continued exposure of some of our weightlifters in particular. One senior woman lifter has just finished her sentence and made amends with medal performances at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Unfortunately for India it was at this very edition of the Commonwealth Games that two other medal winners tested positive. Their medals have been taken away and India has slipped from the third spot in the overall placings to the fourth place behind Canada. Drug consumption to improve performances has indeed become a serious problem. Apart from the health hazard to the consumers, drugs have becoming a major subject for discussion at all levels. The big question here is who really knows about the various drugs, the positive results and the risks involved. In a country where winning medals abroad is an ambition which is more often a dream and where sports culture is totally unheard, drug-taking for enhanced performance can be a dangerous game. Despite the many debates at various levels and the existence of a testing lab at the SAI Centre in Delhi, not much is really known about the various drugs which have invaded the portals of our coaching centres. Indian coaches in particular are perhaps too naive and too innocent or only part knowledgeable about drugs. That is apart from the little knowledge that taking drugs could fetch a medal. This little bit of knowledge that drugs help performance has been the driving force behind more and sportspersons indulging in this habit. Talk to any of the drug takers and you will find they are almost totally unaware of the after-affects of their dangerous habits. All they know is that there is a chance of winning medals and that these medals will be converted to hard cash per kind favour of the ministry and that the cash would help them live a comfortable life thereafter. It is as simple as that. The Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association can do more than detect and punish drug takers. They can call in doctors from abroad to lecture their Indian counter parts associated with sports on the type of drugs available and used and the harm caused in the long run to those who take the drugs. In addition to that every individual leaving the country should be given a list of dos and donts, warning the sportsperson concerned of the dangers of buying medicines out of prescription thought it may be for common cold. Yes, the only answer to this vexed problem is to educate everyone concerned about the harmful effects of drugs. It is pointless blaming the SAI, the coaches or the federations if the sportspersons themselves are inclined to drug taking for enhanced performance. The athletes and others take drugs to keep themselves in the limelight in order to make money. That is a very simple fact. The ministry should immediately remove the incentives of cash and kind if they are to save Indian sportspersons from ruin. There are other means of awarding medal winning performances. But don’t convert medals into cash. The unfortunate part of the whole drug syndrome is that it seems to have forced the federations into a mind-set where drugs appear to play a vital role. Puffed up performances seem to be the order of the day till a couple of weeks before the teams takes flight with the resultant wearing off scheduled to end with the actual competition. Since Indian sportspersons rarely if at all win medals, no one is the wiser. But the actual damage to the body in the long term is something no one wants to think about. These short term measures to inflate performances could be the only reasons why most of the records in athletics and weightlifting are set on home ambience. Once out of the country and with the wearing off of the drug effects, performances naturally drop, more in keeping with the actual level of the ability of the sportsperson concerned. Hence the example of a 20.60 mts throw in India by a shot putter and below 20 metres or even 19 metres effort in an international competition. The differences in the showing at home and abroad by our strong men and women is often as much as two to three metres. It just does not make sense. Or does it now? The time has come for the federations and coaches to be honest with themselves and with the sportspersons also. The government too should be more realistic. Remove the cash incentives and see the difference. |
|
Hockey’s ‘golden girl’ Sita Gussain, the golden girl of hockey, has at last been conferred the Arjuna Award in recognition of her performance. She has been in the vanguard of women’s hockey for over one decade and has brought laurels to the country. Though nominated rather late for the award, she does not have any regrets. In a brief interaction, Sita, whose native place is Nahan in Sirmaur district, spoke on the growth of women’s hockey in recent years. She is now an officer with Indian Railways, posted at Ambala. Sita, a centre forward, was the only woman hockey player from India and Asia, to be picked in the World XI which played with former world champions Australia in the FIH Golden Jubilee Hockey Tournament in Egypt in 1999. It was a rare feat by an Indian sportsperson. Recently, she was instrumental in giving India the gold in the Commonwealth Games at Manchester. Sita, a former captain of the Indian women’s hockey team who has been representing the country for more than a decade, said Arjuna Award was an honour for which every Indian craves for. When asked, why after winning the silver medal in the 1998 Asian Games, she was not given the Arjuna Award, she replied since the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation (IWHF) could recommend only one player from the team, the name of Pritam Thakran, the captain, was considered. Sita had earlier been a trainee at the Sports Authority of India, Sports Training Centre, Sector 18, in Chandigarh. Here her game got the desired boost under the guidance of SAI coach Jaswinder Singh. Sita’s career was on the upswing as she won a medal in the four nation tournament, silver in the Asian games besides ensuing top positions for her team in various other tournaments. Born in 1973, Sita did not get the desired encouragement in Himachal Pradesh and she opted to join Indian Railways. Since she trains at Ambala, she represented Haryana in the National Games. Some time back, the Haryana Government had announced a grant of Rs 7 lakh for the state’s gold medallists. However, her home state Himachal Pradesh gave a cash award of Rs 50,000. At present Sita is attending the national camp at Patiala in preparation for the Asian Games at Busan (Korea). The team according to her, is in high spirits and with specialised training under chief national coach G.S. Bhangu, they are looking forward to a medal. Sita would like to serve the country for a longer time but her immediate concern is to excel at
Busan. |
|
TEEING-OFF Vijay Kumar’s desire of playing on Asian circuit has, at long last, become a reality. He will be sponsored by Ashok Jaipuria of Cosmo Films. “I am delighted at the wonderful terms of the sponsorship”, Vijay Kumar is reported to have said, adding: “I am optimistic of performing satisfactorily for all concerned”. The sponsorship is valid for 10 events on the Asian PGA. Vijay, who is all keyed up, will be seen in action at Volvo China next week. The field in Asian PGA is tough and varied. The conditions will be different and courses hazardous. But Lucknow’s professional, who is one of the most determined and dedicated golfers, has in him the capability to cause surprises at the Asian circuit. The sponsorship to Vijay has raised hopes among caddy-turned-pros that their turn will also come. There is a tremendous following for golf in the country and quite a few sponsors are willing to serve the cause of golf, which is rapidly progressing in all parts of the country. What is cause for satisfaction is that many affluent people have changed their loyalties from cricket to golf. “This is a great going”, say pro golfers. Tiger Marketing, which is a nerve-centre for all pro activities in the country, will be reporting on Vijay’s deeds in the Asian PGA. Vijay’s participation in the Asian PGA will indeed deprive him from taking part in some of the events in the Indian tour. But that is a minor loss because he has travelled from an Indian pond to Asian ocean. While Vijay Kumar will be seen in action overseas, it is not known whether Vijay Singh, one of world’s leading pros, will make his appearance on the Indian soil. He was to play at DLF late last season but he had to pull out because of foot-injury. His two-day trip was postponed for this winter. But there has yet been no news about his playing here. If he does figure even in fun competition, it will provide a lot of boost to the game. There is an upsurge in pro activities and tournaments. But it cannot be said about amateur activities where women and juniors are not performing as consistently as they ought to. Unquestionably the best in the country, Irina Brar, for example, plays an outstanding round one day and falters the next day. In golf only those who play consistently succeed. There is no short way to success in this discipline, which is even more unpredictable than cricket. It is promising youngsters who need facilities to play at different courses instead of providing memberships to bureaucrats, who use gold to socialise. The Delhi Golf Club, for example, has agreed to provide 125 tenure memberships to bureaucrats just because the Urban Development Ministry has consented to extend the lease to 2020. The DGC management has willingly agreed to the UDM unreasonable demand because some of the important office-bearers feel that they will be able to rub shoulders with 125 senior bureaucrats for their own benefits and gains. They feel that more the contacts in bureaucratic corridors, the better it will be for their business. The DGC’s contribution in promoting golf is more than any other golfing institution. This cannot be doubted by even DGC’s detractors. But the DGC authorities should help juniors who are the champions in making. On September 14, a special general body meeting of the DGC will be held to amend the constitution. This is being done to regularise 125 tenure memberships. The task is difficult because 75 per cent majority is required to amend the constitution. Those, who are in the management committee, feel that the motion would be carried. |
|
|
Doping scenario getting murkier We are a nation of plenty. There is plenty to be proud of, plenty to do. Moreover this country of a billion also thinks in volumes. So when two lifters tested positive for dope in the Commonwealth games, the entire nation started thinking that the dreaded dope phenomenon had engulfed nearly every Indian sportsperson. This school of thought could not be far from the truth as doping is nothing new in Indian sport. Frivolous enquiries, as initiated by the then Union Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharti, are also old hat. The same minister had ordered an enquiry last year into the case of banned drugs popping out of suitcases of national campers at the NIS. However, the one-man Kingra committee report was conveniently brushed under the carpet. What is worse that whenever any sportsperson lands himself in the doping net, the IOA and federation officials give the explanation that “ everyone was tested and cleared by the SAI lab.” This, in fact, means that a monitoring mechanism is in place to help sportspersons get cleared of traces of dope they might have taken. Such are the bizarre ways of our system. Any discussion on dope triggers off a feeling of suspicion that colours attitudes towards the contemporary sporting establishment. Among those outside the sporting arena there is a growing concern that all is not well, that idealism and the spirit of honest competition have been replaced by distrustful and shrewd manipulation- the most obvious forms which are to be found in the abuse of chemicals and pharmaceuticals by athletes and those who train them. The central concept of George Orwell’s novel `1984’ was doublethink. Double-think means the power to hold two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind at the same time and accepting both of them. The world of Indian sport, to a certain extent, has been guilty of doublethink- with bodies like the AAFI and the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) mouthing hollow condemnations about the use of drugs in sport while simultaneously demonstrating a tacit acceptance of the whole situation. If use of chemicals was not enough, blood doping has caught the fancy of Indian sportspersons in a big way. This procedure, very popular among the athletics fraternity, is ‘sinister’ in its implications. Here blood is withdrawn from the body of an athlete, stored for a period of time and then re-infused. Following the initial withdrawal of blood, the body compensates by increasing the production of red blood cells, until a normal level is established. When the stored blood is re-infused, a higher than normal level of red blood cells is established and the ability of the blood to transport oxygen is significantly enhanced. In this war against doping where does the Indian athlete stand? The SAI lab in New Delhi is not accredited with the IOC and , as such, samples tested there have no legal sanctity. The testing is by and large a deterrent rather than a foolproof method to test and enforce sanctions. Moreover, grapevine has it that certain national sports federations, including the AAFI and the IWF, are hand in glove with the SAI lab, which further aggravates the position. The dope crises in Indian sport is akin to the population explosion. It happened yesterday but everyone says that it will not happen tomorrow. The question now is that do we seek to exercise our ethical sensibilities and begin to find a solution or do we continue to turn a blind eye to the blatant violation of rules? Surely for the Indian sports officialdom, it is a challenge, a test, which it should not fail. |
sm
|
 |
Indian win over Pak laudable On September 4, India defeated Pakistan in hockey and for us it was like winning the Champions Trophy itself. It was an excellent match of pure skill. Both teams displayed excellent stickwork but Pakistan lacked finish. The day actually belonged to Devesh Chauhan and Dhanraj Pillay though on the whole it was a team effort. Prabhjot, Gagan Ajit and Dilip Tirkey played well. The Champions Trophy has so far been a field game with low penalty corner conversion rate. Who could believe that Australia wasted 16 penalty corners in one match. It is Germany’s stamina, stopping skill, and perfect passing that has helped them to reach the final. P.N. Menon, Amritsar
Good rotation Congratulations to the Indian-cricket team for the victory in the third Test against England. It was great victory which gave the Indian team a big boost. Rahul Dravid played with patience. We should not ignore Bangar’s contribution in batting and bowling. Rotation of bowlers by Ganguly was amazing. Almost every change fetched him wickets. R.N. Bhat, Sundernagar
Under-19 win India thrashed England in the third cricket Test to register an emphatic and historic win after 16 years. But the India under-19 team went a step ahead when they whitewashed the England under 19 squad in the three-match one-day series. In the last match of the series, they scored a dramatic one-wicket victory over their rivals to make a clean sweep. And the credit for it goes to opener Ambati Rayudu who hit a superb unbeaten 177 off just 137 balls to enable India to clinch the series. He tore the England attack to smithereens. Tarsem S. Bumrah, Batala Roberto Carlos The UEFA recently bestowed the honour of ‘best defender’ on football superstar Roberto Carlos. FIFA had erred in not declaring him the best defender during football World Cup. Simar, alias Rori Dinohlos, Khamano
|
