NADA panel list indicates dope athletes go scot-free

Several dope-tainted athletes could have gone scot-free because of an apparent inaction by the government authorities as revealed in a list of around 350 sports persons released on Thursday by National anti-doping disciplinary panel on the orders of the Delhi High Court.

Around 150 dope-flunked athletes were found to have gone unpunished as respective federations did not apparently take actions or followed proper procedures. This can be referred from the blank columns for required action against the 150 atheltes in a 37-page list issued by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) panel on Thursday.

The list was released by the NADA body after the Delhi High Court passed an order on August 6, this year, asking it to take appropriate action against dope-flunked athletes for the period of 1991 to 2009 after a PIL was filed by 1992 Asian Marathon champion, Sunita Godara.

The first hearing before the NADA panel was held on Wednesday and next will be on December 23.

"In several places the national federations had either not taken appropriate action or didn't follow proper procedures under rules. This is shocking. This will lead to the opening of a pandora's box in Indian sports as names of many dope-flunked athletes had not been disclosed for so many years without proper records and only after the intervention of the court the names are being released today," Godara told PTI.

Another list will be released either on Friday or within few days as NADA had told a court that around 600 names of dope-flunked athletes have been submitted to the court.

All these names were submitted by NADA after the Delhi High Court issued notices to Sport Ministry, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and NADA in the PIL of 2000.

Godara had filed a petition in 1998 and the Delhi High Court converted it into a PIL on public interest two years later.