NEW DELHI: India's only woman individual Olympic madallist Karnam Malleswari on Friday backed Sports Authority of India in Monika Devi controversy, saying the spectre of another Olympic dope shame might have prompted the national body not to clear the Manipuri lifter for Beijing.
Monika was stopped from going to Beijing at the eleventh hour on dope charges before being cleared by a review committee appointed by Indian Weightlifting Federation, but by that time it was too late for her to join the Indian contingent in Beijing.
Malleswari said Monika must have been crestfallen for missing out a lifetime opportunity but felt in balance SAI took the right decision out of a difficult situation.
"I understand the emotional aspect of Monika. Every athlete has an Olympic dream especially for a woman lifter and you don't know whether you will get that chance next time. She must have been crestfallen but I believe 100 per cent when SAI said the results indicate there was possibility of doping," she said in an interview.
"I think it was not a question of any personal enmity of SAI against Monika. As far as I know there were some doubts about the test results of Monika and SAI must have thought it was better not to clear her instead of another dope shame for the country in Beijing.
"There was an adverse analytical finding in the first test and SAI said it needed further tests to know whether the substance was a natural product from her body or came from outside. The subsequent tests might have been negative but there were lingering doubts," Malleswari said on the sidelines of national junior weightlifting championships at Noida.
"Imagine another doping case in Beijing after two lifters were caught in 2004 Athens Olympics and the federation has been banned twice in the past. That would have been a huge shame for the country and the image of the sport would have got worse," added the 33-year-old lifter who won a bronze in 2000 Sydney Olympics in 69kg category.
She said in her career spanning 15 years, the results at SAI dope testing laboratory here have turned out to be correct on most occasions except before the 2004 Athens Olympics dope shame.
"Many say since it (SAI laboratory in New Delhi) is not WADA-certified, so its results are doubtful. But from 1990 when I started my career till 2004 whoever is cleared from here have no problem in tests conducted outside the country before international competitions," said the lifter who has been decorated with honours ranging from Arjuna Award to Rajiv Khel Ratna and Padam Shri.
Malleswari is pained by the doping scandals that rocked weightlifting in the country and blamed Indian Federation's shying away from clamping down on the menace with an iron hand as the reason behind them.
