National inter-university athletics meet in Bhubaneswar marred by incessant doping

The national inter-university athletics championships for women's events at the KIIT Stadium in Bhubaneswar have been in disarray.

The event has become a hotspot for ceaseless doping violations by athletes as no dope testing officials turned up at the championships. National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials generally do not turn up at university events, and that prompted the young athletes to opt for cheating.

Photographs of used syringes and vials scattered in the washrooms of the KIIT Stadium have already gone viral since Thursday night.

India is already under the scanner of the World Anti-Doping Agency's AIU following doping violations at the Delhi state athletics meet in September where athletes ran away from the event no sooner had the NADA officials entered the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex. Only one athlete contested the 100m event who recently tested positive for doping.

India has been ranked only second behind Russia in October this year in the WADA list of the number of anti-doping rule violations committed.

The latest development of incessant doping violations at the university athletics championships has again exposed how big is the menace of doping in India.

As soon as the photographs of dope cheats went viral, people started questioning why NADA decided to give such an important event a miss.

On Friday, reports came that as many as 25 athletes, including nine in athletics, who contested at the National Games in October-November in Goa, have failed the dope tests for samples taken at the Games.

The men's university athletics championships will be held in Chennai on January 4.

Championships in disarray

While doping violations at the KIIT Stadium have hit the headlines, the total conduct of the meet itself has been in chaos.

KP Mohan, a renowned journalist, wrote on X that the organisers were unable to complete the events in the time since some of the events were held as late as 2 AM.

Such was the situation that the event is being conducted with 'clapper start', and there are 'no qualified official, no implements meeting specifications, no measuring devices, no one to supervise scheduling or call rooms'.

Athletes are being forced to warm themselves up at a barren field, while no arrangements have been made for food or beverages even for marathon races that were held past midnight.