MUMBAI: The IPL got underway in the UAE on September 19 but the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) dope control officers (DCOs) are still nowhere to be seen.
The sample collection drive of cricketers participating in the IPL is yet to begin as the country’s anti-doping watchdog awaits clearance from the Central government authorities for its dope control officers (DCOs) to travel to the UAE.
NADA’s team of DCOs, which was supposed to fly out to the UAE in the second week of September, hasn’t yet left the Indian shores pending approval from the ministry of external affairs, Times of India reports.
With the tournament entering its fourth week on Friday, NADA has been looking to obtain the required approval from authorities at the earliest to send its DCOs to either of the two destinations – Dubai or Sharjah – preferably by next week.
However, as things stand, the anti-doping officials aren’t too optimistic about clearances arriving soon given the pandemic situation in the country and the stringent health and safety protocols put in place by the UAE’s local authorities. There stands a possibility that the DCOs’ trips might not fructify at all. NADA had planned to send its three teams of DCOs in different batches for the tournament, consisting of a lead DCO from its Delhi headquarters, two assistant DCOs and two local chaperones provided by the UAE’s anti-doping agency (NADO).
Sources told TOI that the NADA had submitted the proposal for IPL dope testing to the Union Sports Ministry well before the start of the tournament and the ministry, in turn, had forwarded it to the concerned authorities in the government. However, NADA is still waiting to hear from the ministry on the matter.
Sources told the daily that NADA and the BCCI are still negotiating on the expense part and the cost of getting the samples tested at a foreign lab. TOI further reports that NADA has entered into a fresh contract with Germany’s Cologne lab, a Wada-accredited laboratory, for the testing of cricketers’ samples. Earlier, the NADA had decided to send the samples to Spain’s Barcelona laboratory because the UAE’s NADO was contracted with the Catalonian lab.
