New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) said Friday it has put in place an effective and robust programme in place to ensure that the Games are free from dope violations with 1,500 doping control tests, the largest in the Games history.
The programme, put up with the support of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), is a blend of deterrence, detection and education.
CGF has constituted a nine-member medical Commission chaired by M. Jegathesan of Malaysia. The other eight members will be from different Commonwealth nations, including a host city representative, to supervise doping control activities at the Oct 3-14 Games.
‘The CGF has approved a test distribution plan of 1,500 doping control tests, 250 blood tests, 150 EPO tests and 150 pre-competition tests — the highest in any Commonwealth Games,’ said Munish Chander, deputy director general (Doping Control) of the CGOC.
The participating athletes from 71 Commonwealth Games Associations will be subjected to random dope control tests, anytime and anywhere during the Games.
The OC, through its doping control division, has trained more than 450 doping control officials (DCOs) for Delhi 2010. The selection and the training of these officials has been conducted in accordance with the international standards of WADA. They have been selected from many streams including doctors, sports medicine experts, physiotherapists and physical education professors.
State-of-the-art Doping Control Stations will be put up at all competition venues. A Dope Centre has been set up at the Games Village while the Command Centre will be at the Games Headquarters. Each venue will have a dedicated doping control team with a doping control venue manager, DCOs, Chaperone Coordinators and Chaperones.
‘The OC has left an everlasting legacy to the sports arena by setting up doping control facilities at all competition venues and training venues at par with the international standards,’ said Chander.
‘These facilities will be used solely for doping control purpose after the Games. Proper doping control infrastructure will be in place with doping control equipments, training and education material and a trained workforce of doping control professionals.’
The doping control will be operational from Sep 23 to Oct 14.
CGF has also nominated five international DCOs from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kazakhstan and Singapore, who will work closely with NDCOs.
In addition, the World Anti-Doping Agency has deployed a team of independent observers to oversee the arrangements and execution. They will come out with a report on doping control report at the end of the Games.
A three-member Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) Committee under the chairmanship of Ken Fitch of Australia has also been set up by CGF to manage Games-time TUEs.
The Commonwealth Games was a great opportunity for the country to get World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation for National Dope Testing Laboratory (NTDL). NDTL Delhi is one of the 34 labs around the globe and fully functional with able Scientists and update equipment to cater all requirements of Delhi 2010. It will be supported by 18 scientists from different WADA-accreditated laboratories.
