London dope control team told to test Indian athletes

In order to avoid a repeat of the Monika Devi doping scandal-like incident before the Olympics, the National Anti-Doping Agency has tested the urine samples of all Indian athletes except a few who were based abroad for training, its Director General said on Wednesday.

NADA Director General Mukul Chatterjee said all the Olympics-bound Indian athletes, except those based in foreign countries for training, underwent mandatory dope testing.

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He said those training in foreign countries would be tested by the Olympic Doping Control Team when they check in at the Games Village in London.

"It's mandatory that all the athletes will have to be tested three months prior to any mega event. That we have done for all the athletes except for a few who have been based in foreign countries for training like Vikas Gowda and Om Prakash Karhana," Chatterjee, who took charge recently, said.

"The Doping Control Team under the London Games Organising Committee has the authority to do the dope testing. So we have requested the LOGOC to ask the doping control team to test the Indian athletes, who have not been tested by the NADA, when they check in at the Games Village," he said.

"These are out-of-competition tests. They will also undergo the in-competition tests to be done by the doping control team during the Games," he added.

Gowda is based in the United States while Om Prakash has been training in Hungary for the last two years.

Weightlifter Monika Devi was caught for doping just hours before she was to board the flight for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Her 'B' sample, which was tested in a Tokyo laboratory on the recommendations of T S Krishnamurthy Commission which probed into the doping scandal, had also returned positive for banned drugs.