Patiala: In an effort to curtail doping at school level, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) will conduct dope tests at the Kerala Schools' Athletics meet. This is for the first time that NADA will be conducting doping samples in school games.

NADA Director-General Rahul Bhatnagar said it will conduct testing at the 55th Kerala State Schools’ Athletic Meet being held at Ernakulam from today. “NADA teams have been constituted and deputed to conduct about 40 samples in this competition. This is being done as part of the NADA programme to extend the dope testing to the college and school level competitions,” he added.

“Many Indian players have tested positive for banned substances lately bringing major embarrassment to the nation,” he added. “We have therefore decided that this menace should be curbed at a much lower level. Usually, dope tests were done after a player has made it to the India camp but we realised that if we wanted to make Indian sports dope-free, we would have to apprise young players about its ill effects.

“Making them aware is one part of the task. The other is that by conducting tests, we want to send a message across that there was no room for players who indulge in doping,” Bhatnagar added.

The Tribune