The Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel assured all support in the drive to eradicate doping in the country and ensure clean sports, while presiding over a meeting to consider legislation against doping, here on Thursday.
The secretary of Department of Sports, Injeti Srinivas, who is also the Director General of Sports Authority of India (SAI), pointed out that in addition to catching athletes who dope, it's also necessary to find the support personnel, behind doping.
It was noted that the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), which had improved the detection rate from 2.25 % to 3.50 %, has a plan to "significantly increase the number of tests" this year.
It was also highlighted that the NADA was educating the athletes at various levels, including the University Games. In national level competitions athletes pledge that they were aware of the the ill-effects of doping and would not indulge in it.
The Director General of NADA, Navin Agarwal, pointed out that physically unfit candidates clear physical proficiency tests and get recruited in the Armed and Police Forces by resorting to doping.
He also said that the nutritional supplements in the market does not carry any label that would help the athletes understand the substance better. The fact that prohibited drugs were available freely in the market without any prescription was viewed as another major reason for athletes becoming victims of doping.
Officers from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, Food Safety Standards Authority of India and representatives of various federations and sports bodies, athletes, medical professionals and sports administrators attended the meeting.
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