Is dope-testing of record breakers in Indian athletics a farce?

The latest controversy over the ratification of National records in athletics, as reported by Mail Today   opens up yet another debate about this contentious subject.

Why should there be any controversy over ratification of a National record? You may well ask. Is it not a routine matter that should be handled by the federation as per set standards and policies?

That is where the problem comes. There are no laid-down procedures and criteria that the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) can apply! Conventions rather than rules or policies have dictated the procedures of the AFI through the years in the matter of ratification of National records.

To be fair to the AFI, it must be mentioned here that it has during the past decade at least followed the basic criteria of accepting a National record, on the lines of what the international federation (IAAF) does for World Records_the track should have been certified, the implements should be of the ‘approved’ category; the wind-reading should have been recorded and qualified officials and a technical delegate appointed by the federation if it happens to be a domestic meet should have been there on duty..

P. T. Usha objects

When in the year 2000 (Olympic year) a clutch of National records were bettered including that in the women’s 100 metres and 400 metres, the legendary P. T. Usha, whose records that were eclipsed, wrote to the Sports Ministry to suggest that there should be some rule by which record-setters were dope-tested.

The ministry passed on the suggestion to the AFI which readily agreed to introduce the dope tests for record-breakers. After all, dope testing was in vogue during that time in Indian athletics and to bring more respectability and credibility to the records and record-breakers it was imperative that the athletes be tested..

Less than two years later, the AFI rejected four ‘national records’ including that of Rachita Mistry’s 11.26s for the 100 metres, set in Bangalore, in 2000, on the argument that no dope tests were conducted in these cases.

A few other records set in the same Olympic year, as well as later, however got the nod of the AFI’s ratification panel. There were a few records that could have raised a doubt or two, but then dope tests were conducted in these meets and there was little point in questioning the veracity of the records. It was another matter that we will never come to know whether the record-setters were tested!

Were there dope tests?

Years passed without any one questioning the ratification of any of the records. The question about dope-testing the record-setters should have been raised, for, it was a policy decision of the AFI and the public at large, especially the followers of the sport, the media and, above all, the athletes themselves had a right to know.

We know several of the men’s discus records were set abroad by Anil Kumar and Vikas Gowda. Were there dope tests in those meets? Even when athletes posted National records in Olympics, were they dope-tested there?

“This will mean we can’t accept any of the records that were set in major international meets during the past few years,” said an AFI official last year, rather ruefully.

Yes, it is very difficult to stick to that stipulation. There is a provision, however, in international dope-testing. You can ask a meet organizer to test your record-setting athlete at your expense. Several countries do that.

The AFI has talked about laying down criteria for the acceptance of National records. Until that happens, the federation should clarify what is a ‘competition’. It should also clarify whether a dope test done 24 hours or 48 hours after a competition could be accepted.

Among the records recently accepted by the AFI is one in men’s shot put (20.69m), set by Om Prakash Singh in Szombathely, Hungary, in May, 2012.

By all accounts, Om Prakash was the lone competitor using the standard 7.26kg shot in that ‘competition’ where there were juniors and sub-juniors using 5kg and 4kg shots.

The then AFI Technical Committee Chairman, P. K. Srivastava, was quoted by The Hindu as stating then that the Szombathely competition in which Om Prakash competed could not be considered as a “bona fide competition”.

Yet, not only has the AFI approved that record, even the IAAF statistical publications have that mark as India’s National record, even though the IAAF statisticians, one was told, normally go by the IAAF rule for world record ratification, in these cases also. And that rule says there should be a minimum three athletes in an individual event for a record to be accepted.

IAAF has a different Indian record

Talking of IAAF-approved National records of India, there is one in women’s discus by Seema Antil, that of 64.84m set in Kiev in 2004 that stands out against our own recently-approved mark of 64.76m set by Krishna Poonia in Hawaii in 2012.

How can there be such a discrepancy? It seems Seema’s 2004 effort in Kiev was not supported by documentation. You may well ask whether any of the other records set abroad by Indian athletes during the past decade had been supported by documentation!

But that is beside the point. The IAAF has listed several ‘Indian bests’ with a rider that there was no dope control at these meets. Does it have some proof that Seema Antil was dope-tested in Kiev during the 2004 competition? Or for that matter Om Prakash Singh was tested in Szombathely in 2012?

Also in focus is a record in men’s long jump by Kumaravel Premkumar, set in New Delhi’s Nehru Stadium during last year’s Inter-Railway Championships. There was no dope testing there on the day the Tamil Nadu lad posted 8.09m, better than Amritpal Singh’s nine-year-old record by one centimeter.

Department wakes up late

For such departmental meets, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) sends a team if there is a request from the organizers and an assurance that the expenses would be met by the latter. The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) woke up rather belatedly.

Premkumar was tested the next day or maybe even later than that. An ‘in-competition’ test has to be done immediately after the event.

The Indian Express quoted the AFI Technical Committee Chairman Tony Daniel as saying, “"In the absence of anti-doping protocol at the meet, his leap cannot be ratified by the AFI because he was not tested immediately after the event. Winners must give samples for testing within an hour of completing an event. This is a well-established international practice and cannot be violated."

Yet, Daniel presided over the committee meeting that approved Premkumar’s record as well as a number of other records where also there were no dope tests.

India shares the dubious distinction of being toppers, with Russia, in the matter of ‘dope cheats’ in athletics. The AFI has to wake up and follow its own proclaimed policies even as it grapples with the formulation of the criteria for accepting National records.

Were dope tests done in these cases:

Men
110m hurdles	13.65	Siddanth Thingalaya	Brussels	17-06-12
Long jump	8.09	Kumaravel Premkumar	New Delhi	05-08-13
Pole vault	5.13	K. P. Bimin	Jabalpur	23-08-12
Shot put	20.69	Om Prakash Singh	Szombathely	12-05-12
Discus	66.28	Vikas Gowda	Norman, USA	12-04-12
20km walk	1:20:21	K. T. Irfan	London	04-08-12
50km walk	3:56:48	Basant Bahadur Rana	London	11-08-12
Women
Discus	64.76	Krishna Poonia	Hawaii	05-05-12
20km walk	1:34:28	Khushbir Kaur	Moscow	13-08-13