Patiala: After USA and Australia, the next team facing the exit door, from the 2nd Pearls World Kabaddi Cup, could well be England. Till date, as many as 34 kabaddi players have tested positive during the World Cup, which includes three players, one each from England, Canada and Spain, the results of which were declared yesterday. With this, the count of dope positive players from England has also reached 6 and if one more player is found positive, the team will have to quit the tournament because of shortage of players.
Giving information in this regard, Director General of NADA Rahul Bhatnagar said till date NADA had disclosed the report of 120 players out of which 34 had been found positive. This includes 6 players from Australia, 6 from England, 5 from Canada, 5 from Spain, 4 from America, 3 from Italy, 2 from Norway and one each from India, Argentina and Germany.
He further informed that Australia had to quit as it did not have sufficient players to continue in the tournament. While 6 Australian players were provisionally suspended for doping, two of its players were injured and therefore could not play. “Similarly, England is a 14-member contingent and six of its players have been suspended for doping. Now that it is left with only 8 players, which is the minimum number of players required to play any match, any more player flunking the dope test would lead to their exit from the tournament,” he added. Notably, as 5 players from Canada have also failed the dope test, they are now left with only one extra player.
The Tribune