AFI set to make coach registration mandatory to curb doping menace

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is set to make it mandatory for coaches – qualified and unqualified – to register on its website from this season onwards, reported PTI.

The coaches will be allowed to train athletes and take part in the competitions only if they follow the AFI order.

The AFI took this measure to curb the menace of doping among junior athletes, often instigated by their coaches in pursuit of quick success.

The AFI, meanwhile, set up an anti-doping cell to identify coaches suspected to be "involved in doping of their wards" and drew up a list of training centres which serve as "hideouts" for cheats on the recommendation of a high-powered committee to deal with the menace.

The AFI will share the data gathered by the anti-doping cell, headed by Delhi Police Special Cell Commissioner Sagarpreet Hooda, with the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), established by World Athletics.

The AFI’s latest measure came amid the rapid rise in doping cases among Indian track and field athletes. At the recently held Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) in Chandigarh, the national federation has made it mandatory for all coaches to register with it or else they will be blacklisted.

"We will make this mandatory from this year. Whether qualified or unqualified, the coaches will have to register on AFI portal (just like the athletes do). If they don't do that, they will not be allowed to coach their athletes to take part in our events," a top AFI official told the news agency.

"Registration of coaches was one of the recommendations (of the committee) and we had already started it. But this will be made mandatory from this year onwards and the state units will have to be involved in this task," the official added.

So far, approximately 700 to 800 coaches registered themselves, which is much lower than what the AFI expected.

Owing to this reason, AFI decided to make the registration of coaches mandatory from this year. This is all the more important since the AFI is hoping to have more than 40,000 qualified athletes by 2036, and for that, it needs coaches of integrity.

"Most of the doping in Indian athletics is because of the involvement of the coaches. So, we are making it mandatory for the coaches to register with the AFI. It can't go on like this, else India may be suspended," the AFI official said.