New Delhi: Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and renowned sports surgeon Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala will be heading the body's anti-doping medical panel that will coordinate with national federations to educate athletes on the perils of banned substances.
The aggressive push to tackle doping has been triggered by India's continuous poor record, which includes three years at the top of World Anti-Doping Agency's list of biggest violators. The problem threatens to throw India's plans of becoming an Olympic host in 2036 haywire.
On the sidelines of the IOA Athletes Forum here, the body's CEO Raghuram Iyer said Pardiwala will have a team working under him to coordinate with the National Sports Federations (NSFs).
"...there is a very strong medical panel which is going to be there and which is going to be ensuring that whatever information that goes out is absolutely correct," Iyer said.
"The Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Olympic Association, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala is going to be leading that. He will have a team under him which is going to be working with the NSFs to try and work on this," he added without elaborating any further.
IOA President P T Usha said athletes need to understand the importance of patience. She was speaking after the IOA announced a joint educational initiative with two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra that would assist athletes in understanding anti-doping measures and guide them on how to avoid prohibited substances.
"Nowadays we are number one in dope because I think players are not having patience. They are all attracted (to the idea) of getting results fast. Now the champion himself, Neeraj Chopra himself is saying that have patience to get the performance," she said.
"Whatever you are lacking, you should have the patience and work on it. That's what Neeraj is saying that if you have patience, technique, you will be able to achieve world and Olympic medals."
"It will be athletes talking to athletes. It is not a policing thing that we are doing. It will just be more educative," she added.
