Meet alerts cricketers about drugs, doping in Ahmedabad

Unlike weightlifting and athletics, the sport of cricket in India has never really been threatened by the scourge of doping but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unwilling to take chances.

To ensure that young talented cricketers, unwittingly or otherwise, do not fall prey to doping, the BCCI organised an educative seminar on the subject at Motera stadium on Sunday. Nearly 100 cricketers -U-16, U-19 and senior players as well-participated in the seminar which was anchored by Dr Abhijit Salvi from Mumbai.

Salvi explained the intricacies of the testing process and also spoke at length about the medicines that are banned in sports. "Most players actually have no idea of which drugs are banned under anti-doping rules. They have little prior knowledge about medicines and their effects. If someone tells them a particular drug is good for their muscle mass, they take it little realizing that it is forbidden under the rules," Dr Salvi told DNA.

The seminar was part of an awareness campaign approved by the BCCI. It was attended by the support staff of Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA), six doctors who work with the GCA, and chaperones.

The head coach of Gujarat's Ranji team, Vijay Patel, agreed that young players need mentoring and the onus for this lies on the support staff. "Yes, the support staff play the role of a father. It is our job to look after the boys and keep them informed about medicines and drugs."

Patel said that a list of medicine had been made available to the players and they, in turn, will be informing their family doctors and trainers. "We came to know that even the ayurvedic tonic, Chyavanprash, has a small quantity of substances banned in sports. We have provided players a list of medicines and banned drugs so that they can show it to their physicians," he said.

The young Gujarat players returned home educated. “It is scary to read in newspapers that leading Indian sportspersons are testing positive every day. The seminar helped allay my fears," said Bhargav Merai, who was recently judged the best U-19 cricketer in the country by BCCI.

He added that players will now be more aware about the medicines they take. "We have been told not to take ayurvedic and homeopathy medicines as the chances of banned substances being present in them are quite high. Henceforth, we will be showing the list to our family doctors," Merai said.