Following the ignominy of eight Indian athletes, including gold medalists at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, testing positive for banned substances, Union sports minister Ajay Maken on Tuesday sacked the country’s athletics coach, Ukrainian Yuri Ogrodnik, and formed a panel to be headed either by a retired Delhi high court judge or the chairperson of the National Anti-Doping Authority’s disciplinary committee, to look into the matter. Ogrodnik trained six of the eight athletes who are mired in the doping scandal.
“We have decided to relieve the foreign coach attached to these athletes with immediate effect. I will personally ensure that the officials responsible for the scandal are penalised,” Maken said in New Delhi. “Eight athletes testing positive for banned substances has brought disgrace to the sporting fraternity and the country.”
The minister said the government decided to take action against the support staff as coaches and officials often go scot-free in such cases. Only the athletes suffer, he said.
Assuring that the government would put an end to the doping menace, Maken said he has asked the sports secretary to constitute an inquiry panel and establish reasons leading to such state of affairs. Maken has sought a report on the matter from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). “I have also asked the director-general SAI to submit a report within three days about any vigilance lapses and availability of such drugs in the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala premises,” the minister added.
In the past week, eight athletes — Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Joanna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Tianna Mary Thomas, Hari Krishnan (long jump), Sonia (shot put) and Priyanka Panwar — have tested positive for banned substances.
