MUMBAI: It is happening again. Just when we are close to any major sports event, the dope-scandal begins to loom large on the horizon.
The two prominent sportspersons who have presently hit the headlines are Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif and British sprinter Dwain Chambers, each in his own peculiar case.
Mohammad Asif, more in the news these days for his alleged drug offenses than wicket-taking ability, has jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Within days of his release from Dubai, where he was detained on suspicion of possessing a banned substance, he found himself in another controversy to do with drugs again.
Asif has tested positive in a drug test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) during the Indian Premier League held during last May-June. He was the only player to test positive in the new arrangement agreed upon by the ICC in which random tests can be taken on any cricketer during official matches.
Asif has had a turbulent track record in the matter of drugs. He, along with Shoaib Akhtar, had to return home jut before the start of the Champions Trophy matches in October 2006 in India because a report had been released in Pakistan wherein both were found to have tested positive for drugs. They also missed the 2007 World Cup.
It is not clear whether Asif takes such substances as a performance-enhancing drug, or as a remedy for pain or injury. Whatever it is, his career stands ruined because of this near habitual offenses, there is now a threat of life ban hanging over his head.
However, there is another controversy going with this one. WADA has pulled up the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the IPL for prematurely revealing Asif’s name. As per their rules, the report is a secret document and it is for the offender’s own association to announce the name and take action.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is now contemplating its own probe.
In the case of British athlete Dwain Chambers, the sprinter was caught in the BALCO dope scandal and was banned for two years. The ban ended in 2005. Although he won the 100 meters event during the trials, the British Olympic Association has not named him in the Olympic squad. Chambers has moved the High Court for his right of selection. Public opinion is divided on the issue.
In India too some of the weightlifters, who had tested positive and banned, are trying to make a comeback after having served their ban period. The authorities are not sure what to do with them, lest they seek legal redress.
“Once a doper, always a doper,” says Great Britain’s two-time Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson. If this is to be taken at face value then life ban is the most apt punishment for drug offenders in sports.
