Indian sports news and discussion

[Guest]

Dope: Dutt was in the dark

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Do sports administrators deserve the disgrace they are getting for India's disastrous performance at the Olympics? Sample this and draw your own conclusions: Sports Minister Sunil Dutt was in Athens when the doping scam that shamed the country hit the weightlifting contingent. But in their wisdom, officials in the know kept the minister out of the loop.

Sports Ministry sources said without caring to inform Dutt, officials sent Pratima back to India on a late-night flight. In fact, Dutt remained oblivious of Sanamacha Chanu failing the dope test even after he returned home on August 18.

It was only on August 20 —when TV channels began airing Pratima's interviews — that Dutt was informed about the incident during a function at a hotel.

Dutt then decided to terminate the services of the two weightlifting coaches, Pal Singh Sandhu and Leonid Taranenko of Belarus. Normally, such decisions are taken by the sports body concerned.

Dutt was also of the view that instead of sending Pratima back in a clandestine manner, the officials should have let her clarify her position before the World Anti-Doping Agency that conducted the test.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The incompetence of the Indian sports authorities was always out in the open, itsjust that nobody cared about it before.

Now the Olympics are over, we can either forget about all this and wait till 2008, or the Government uses the 4 years to lay a foundation of accountability in the sports federations.