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The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is committed to make Indian sport dope-free. To this end, the agency is developing Apps to spread awareness and address queries of athletes as well as to help them recognise if any medicine prescribed to them contains prohibited substances. NADA Director-General and CEO Ritu Sain announced this during the Inclusion Conclave conducted by the agency in New Delhi on Friday.
Addressing the NADA India's Inclusion Conclave, Secretary Sports Sujata Chaturvedi said, "We cannot ignore anti-doping while striving for excellence in sport."
She added, "All aspects of the anti-doping programme are important even as India is making rapid strides towards excellence in sport. NADA would make all attempts to spread awareness towards making Indian sport, including sport for Athletes with Disabilities, dope-free."
Participants from India and 20 countries attended the Inclusion Conclave.
Speaking on the occasion, Shombi Sharp, United Nations Resident Coordinator, India highlighted that the inclusion of persons with disabilities is a central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: to leave no one behind.
NADA Director-General and CEO Ritu Sain said the Inclusion Conclave was a step towards ensuring that anti-doping programme is inclusive and athletes with disabilities remain at core and are not left behind.
She informed that NADA India will be deploying 20 dope control officers, who will be collecting samples of athletes with disabilities keeping in mind their different needs. Further, Sain said that the agency would be making use of assistive devices in Doping control process to facilitate athletes with disabilities in lines with the World Anti-Doping Code and Standards.
Tokyo2020 Paralympics High Jump medal winner Sharad Kumar, who attended the event, also shared his experience of serving a two-year ban for an inadvertent anti-doping violation.
He believes that lack of adequate education drives many athletes with disabilities to take short cuts.
He wants athletes to know that doping leaves an impact not just on the body but mind too. "Those who dope and have not tested positive cannot think they have escaped. They are guilty in their own minds and caught in their own trap," he said, asking athletes to avoid chasing popularity and rewards at the risk of their health.