Cricketers ka WADA
August 6th, 2009Our esteemed cricketers don’t want anyone to know their whereabouts, for a variety of reasons. The first one being invasion of privacy and the second being the issue of their personal security. Before we go any further let me just clarify what the whole problem is all about. Our cricketers have objected to a clause in the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) by-rules which says that everyone has to inform WADA about their location for the next three months. On the face of it, it does seem to be pretty invasive. But if you go into the procedure of actually doing it, it is not.
All that the agency wants is that sports person has to be available for one hour between 7 AM and 11 PM everyday at any place of the player’s choosing for WADA officials to come and take random samples should they choose to. It means that if someone is going to lets say Bharatpur on 16 Aug 09 for a wedding all he or she has to do is to log on to the website of WADA and enter the place of stay. After this the player can give any time that he or she wants, may be 7AM when they are not yet out of their place of stay. From booting of the computer to entering these details the entire process should not take more than 5-7 minutes, even if a person is not exactly a computer whiz. But I guess this is asking a bit too much from our esteemed cricketers.
As for security, nobody is taking that information away from WADA. If top American athletes and players who are more likely to be attacked can take such risks why can’t our cricketers? And American athletes have not been attacked so far. In all likelihood it is just an excuse for not signing the clause. What a pity!!!!
BCCI officials meet WADA representatives in Mumbai
The fact is that all the other Indian sports persons are doing it without too much of a fuss. Abhinav Bindra, Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi, to name a few, are all doing it quite willingly. And they have all been tested many times. They say that taking of the sample just takes a few minutes, that’s all. They don’t have a problem with it though ideally they too would not like to disclose their whereabouts to any one. But that’s a small price to pay if we appreciate the overall aim of this exercise which is to free the world of sports from the menace of drugs. To that extent top players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and many such top athletes have all agreed to abide by these rules primarily because they appreciate the over all aim of this exercise. Although, they too have said that they would like this clause to be done away with. Even our sports minister Dr MS Gill has asked the cricketers to reconsider their decision.
What's their problem?
Somehow I have a very strong feeling that all the money and attention which is showered on these cricketers have made them into a very self centered lot. They feel that they can get away with anything. Moreover, it seems that they don’t care about the issue of doping at all. As long as cricket is not affected by this disease they are not concerned. And the whole blame for this must be taken by BCCI who has endorsed this decision of the players. They are the ones pampering these cricketers to the extent that it is becoming a pain now. BCCI too, considers itself a law unto themselves. Since they are an autonomous body they don’t even care for the govt. Sharad Pawar needs to be told that this is not the way responsible people behave. We have a duty to fulfill and we must.
Come to think of it, we have our priorities all mixed up. We take a stand when we don’t need to and we don’t take a stand when we ought to. Like in the Air France case or racist attacks on Indian students in Australian universities or may be even our stand on not talking to Pakistan till they act against terrorists who are spreading terror in India when we should have been firm on not talking but were not. Crazy state of affairs!!!!!! Don’t you think so? C’mon, tell me.
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August 7th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Cricketers are not 2 b blamed. Most of d world sportsmen have said dat they r doing this because their governing bodies have not taken a stand against it. So if BCCI has done so it is only commendable. U also have 2 consider dat BCCI is d only one wid muscle to arm twist WADA into doing what is correct. I agree with our cricketers who have refused to be drawn into this.
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August 7th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Even though i partly agree wid sarwan i feel bcci shud initiate an in house procedure to check dis menace. afterall wasnt mohd asif caught wid drugs in dubai?
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August 9th, 2009 at 10:34 am
u hav got dis terribly wrong. players have a right 2 privacy. even oz have objected 2 dis clause. wada needs 2 get its act together.
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August 11th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
These fellas got time to go to rave parties do commercials but can't spare 5 mins a day to do this! wonder whether these guys go near the groud to practice everyday.This testing shud be considered part of sporting life instead of condemning it which only raises the doubts about these corrupt and arrogant indian cricketers. there will come a time wen ppl will lose interest in indian cricket n these fellas are sure gonna become some rickshaw pullers... remember guys
"Even this will go....'-Swami Shri Shri World Wide Webbandha! ;-)
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