JEDDAH, 10 July 2007 — The Saudi Arabian Anti-Doping Committee is to expand its role in the fight and awareness campaign against doping after the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) recognized Saudi Arabia as among the countries that support the fight against doping in sports in all its forms.
Dr. Muhammad-Saleh Al-Konbaz, president of both the Saudi Arabian Anti-Doping Committee (SAADC) and the Anti-Doping Regional Committee (ADRC), said the WADA mandate was bestowed at a recent
Regional Anti-Doping Organization board meeting Riyadh. Since it was established in 2005, SAADC has always been in the forefront of the campaign to raise awareness against doping.
To further strengthen the committee’s mandate Al-Konbaz was recently appointed member at the Medical Committee (MC) in the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). During their first meeting in the OCA Al-Konbaz said they requested from all national teams participating in the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau in October and in the 11th Pan Arab Games to be held in Egypt in November to send in the list of therepautic medicines of their athletes.
He believes it is always good to plan and prepare ahead of time. Thus he said the SAADC would offer the Saudi national teams that are participating in these two events lectures and seminars against doping in sports during the teams’ training camps here.
Thanks to the event that was held in Riyadh and included a course given for the first time in the Middle East, he said, the country now has 12 Doping Control Officers (DCO) in addition to two specialized in setting the strategies to implement in the awareness plans taking into consideration the age group, professionals and amateurs, and the people it is dedicated to. These officers will be assigned in cities across the Kingdom where national teams train to try and educate the athletes on doping.
“The more they know about anti-doping, the better they present themselves and feel more comfortable when they follow the rules if one of them was asked for a doping check up,” he said.
Al-Konbaz added the players are thirsty for these information, “the lectures they attended had added so much to their knowledge leading them to take more care of their health and fitness.”
In less than three years of existence SAADC has organized 29 programs to support anti-doping that covered almost all the sports in the Kingdom. “Compared to other Gulf countries we are considered among the pioneering countries to mount anti-doping awareness programs and printing materials,” said Bader Al-Saeed, general secretary at the SAADC.
This year the Kingdom was among the 190 countries to sign the Copenhagen, Denmark Declaration on Anti-Doping in Sport. The Copenhagen Declaration was signed on May 30 to show their support for the Code WADA and the signatories paid the annual fees. The fees were paid on time and more than the required as per the request of Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the Saudi Youth Welfare. “This is to show that we want to learn being among the supporting countries and support that financially and practically,” said Al-Saeed.
Al-Saeed said, most of the developed countries have their own websites and printed materials. “We aim at doing the same but we are looking for the suitable staff who can supervised it and make sure it runs smoothly and consistently.” For the meantime, the committee would print two periodicals annually. The first issue was printed in April dubbed, “Not of Us,” and included statements of both Prince Sultan ibn Fahad and his deputy Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal on the importance of fighting against doping in sports. The people behind the success of the event in Riyadh he added were Prince Sultan ibn Fahad, and Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, Al-Konbaz, and Assistant Secretary General Fahad Al-Athel of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee. “They supported it morally and financially and helped remove many of the obstacles.”
