Doping is worse than terrorism
I wonder what has gone so wrong in past few years that most of our lifters are testing positive. I can’t understand why they are doing it and what is their motivation?
I wonder what has gone so wrong in past few years that most of our lifters are testing positive. I can’t understand why they are doing it and what is their motivation? Do they really think they can go scot-free?
They are committing a crime which is worse than terrorism. These lifters are not only tarnishing the country’s name but also their colleagues. What they don’t understand is that not only are they harming their future but also the overall existence of this sport in India.
Now because of the antics of these two or three lifters IWF might be banned, and we risk losing participation in the Commonwealth Games next year — all the money spent on the CWG preparations will be wasted. It will affect our juniors as well. Reading just negative things about the sport will demotivate them.
We need to be very strict with these dopers. I think the federation is to be blamed because they aren’t taking stringent action against the culprits. How else can you explain the same lifters testing positive for banned substance again and again without getting pulled up?
Shailaja Pujari, Pratima Kumari, Vicky Batta, to name a few, have all tested positive more than once. In Vicky’s case he was banned once in 2007, came back and now has tested positive again. The same happened with Shailaja and Pratima.
And when they say it’s their coaches who drag them into the wrongdoings, it’s a white lie. In some cases this might be the case but no coach is so dumb as to feed a trainee banned substances over and over again. Everyone likes to put the blame on others when in trouble.
The IWF has to put its foot down and ban them for life. There are no two-ways about it. There is no place for cheaters in this sport. I really don’t know what they (federation) want to achieve by handing them two or three years ban.
These lifters are cashing in on the popularity created because of us. Myself, Kunjarani Devi, we have worked very hard to achieve what we have. These lifters are reaping the benefit of our hard work. Let’s not give them another opportunity. It’s high time the federation wakes up and takes action.
— As told to Mihir Vasavda
They are committing a crime which is worse than terrorism. These lifters are not only tarnishing the country’s name but also their colleagues. What they don’t understand is that not only are they harming their future but also the overall existence of this sport in India.
Now because of the antics of these two or three lifters IWF might be banned, and we risk losing participation in the Commonwealth Games next year — all the money spent on the CWG preparations will be wasted. It will affect our juniors as well. Reading just negative things about the sport will demotivate them.
We need to be very strict with these dopers. I think the federation is to be blamed because they aren’t taking stringent action against the culprits. How else can you explain the same lifters testing positive for banned substance again and again without getting pulled up?
Shailaja Pujari, Pratima Kumari, Vicky Batta, to name a few, have all tested positive more than once. In Vicky’s case he was banned once in 2007, came back and now has tested positive again. The same happened with Shailaja and Pratima.
And when they say it’s their coaches who drag them into the wrongdoings, it’s a white lie. In some cases this might be the case but no coach is so dumb as to feed a trainee banned substances over and over again. Everyone likes to put the blame on others when in trouble.
The IWF has to put its foot down and ban them for life. There are no two-ways about it. There is no place for cheaters in this sport. I really don’t know what they (federation) want to achieve by handing them two or three years ban.
These lifters are cashing in on the popularity created because of us. Myself, Kunjarani Devi, we have worked very hard to achieve what we have. These lifters are reaping the benefit of our hard work. Let’s not give them another opportunity. It’s high time the federation wakes up and takes action.
— As told to Mihir Vasavda