New Delhi: The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), which was suspended for up to six months, has already addressed most of the concerns raised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and aims to apply within three weeks for its early reinstatement, Reuters reported.
India’s dope testing laboratory’s accreditation was earlier suspended, from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all analyses of urine and blood samples, in a setback for the anti-doping movement in the country less than a year before the Tokyo Olympics.
The suspension, which took effect on Tuesday, entailed that any samples not yet tested would be moved to another WADA-accredited laboratory.
The WADA had stated that the NDTL could apply for reinstatement if it satisfied its Laboratory Expert Group that it has addressed the issues and according to the World Anti-Doping Code, the laboratory can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the WADA decision.
NDTL’s chief executive and India’s sports secretary Radhey Shyam Julaniya told Reuters that the deficiencies had “already been sorted out” and that “WADA was satisfied in 90% of the cases,” he said.
“They wanted some more information and wanted validation through an international experts’ visit. They have not been able to allot time and visit and said they will do it sometime in January next year.” he said.
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NADA director general Navin Agarwal told Reuters that the recent development would not hamper the country’s fight against doping with the next Olympic Games in Tokyo less than a year away
Julaniya also said that laboratories in some European countries charged four times more for testing a sample than the NDTL.
“We took the position that if our rates are lower, the other laboratories should reduce their rates rather than us increasing because this is a service and not a business,” he added.
It was only recently that the sports ministry was able to persuade the BCCI to come under NADA’s umbrella after a dogged resistance for a decade.
Previously, the BCCI had slapped retrospective bans on cricketers who were caught taking terbutaline in doping tests. Of the 200 samples sent to a national laboratory by the BCCI, five tested positive for banned substances, but there was no record as to how the five cricketers were penalised for their actions.
The sports ministry has, as a consequence, been keen to bring the process of checking under the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), which regulates the testing for every Indian sport federation except the BCCI.
(With inputs from Reuters)