"It is very very unfortunate that athletes have to go through this (citing Anju's case). There is more politics in sports than in politics, which should not happen," Nachappa told PTI during an interaction.
"When an athlete takes up a job, what is important is to monitor the progress that he or she makes in that position and there are many athletes who can do wonders in the administrative system. It's not that athletes cannot do it. We are just not given the opportunity and when we are given the opportunity it becomes political and that should not happen. So it is very very unfortunate," the celebrated athlete of yesteryears commented on the sidelines of a promotional event organised by Dabur Group.
"We can't do away with it because every federation is run by politicians."
The 1990 Asian Games silver medallist is of the view that drug menace has become rampant across sporting disciplines.
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"Most athletes are taking it (drugs). It's just a chance that you take and you get caught. But people are taking it across disciplines."
Commenting on the Russian doping scandal she said, "Russian athletes did that but it is sad for the rest of the athletes, who were clean are now being penalized," she sounded disappointed.
"Many people went behind bars and I think to a certain extent what we set out to do, we achieved. What we are now setting out to do is getting people, getting sportspersons involved in administrative roles. That is an ongoing process. We are also trying to bring in sports code for which we fought a lot. There needs to be unity among sportspersons," Nachappa signed off.