JOIN USThe Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has initiated dope testing at the domestic level beginning with the Vijay Hazare Trophy that concluded at Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
The BCCI has been conducting the dope tests in the Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 but this is for the first time it has conducted sample collection at the domestic level.
The project was headed by Dr Vece Paes, hockey Olympian and father of tennis star Leander Paes.
The BCCI which had opposed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code for long said it had no problem in conducting the tests at the domestic level and that it was going to become a regular feature in the coming years.
These tests will continue in the series of domestic tournaments lined-up for the year including the Ranji Trophy.
“We are abiding by an agreement between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and WADA. We are conducting the dope tests as the per the regular procedure,” BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said.
The dope testing method which is being followed is a random one. The sample collection procedures are being managed by the Swedish agency, International Doping Tests & Management (IDTM), which also handles collection procedures for International Association of Athletics Federations and several other international federations apart from the WADA.
The samples are being sent to National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) in New Delhi.
“The players are being tested during training and while they are playing. BCCI has been conducting dope tests in IPL and CLT20 since the last five years and so far we have not found any player positive for using drugs or recreational substances.
“This is the first time we have started testing at the domestic level. We have a team of dope control officials and I am assisted by Dr Abhijit Salve in the project,” Paes told Deccan Herald.
Dr P S M Chandran, formerly of the SAI, is also part of the team.
Paes said they were following a procedure very similar to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
There is a tribunal to decide on sanctions in case a player tested positive. The players will also have a right to appeal against the decision.