'Some Asian c'ship bound athletes yet to undergo dope tests'

At least 10 track and field athletes, mostly relay runners, are yet to undergo dope tests, though the Indian team for next month's Asian Championships in China leaves the country in three days' time, according to sources.
This may lead to a situation where India sends athletes to the championships whose dope status is not known as it is unlikely to get the results of the tests conducted on them before their May 30 departure.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has selected 20 athletes for the June 3-7 Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan and they will name the relay runners (men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400) after trials at NIS Patiala and Bangalore tomorrow.

It is learnt that the AFI has asked the NADA to take dope samples of the relay runners after the trials tomorrow and sources said that this was being done after some athletes, including women quartermilers, went missing when a World Anti-Doping Agency dope testing team visited the SAI-LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram early this month.
Significantly, the trials of the women's 4x400m relay, which was earlier scheduled to be held in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow, has been shifted to NIS Patiala. The quartermilers camping at SAI-LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram will now have trials at NIS Patiala where they will also give dope samples to a NADA team.

"It is not a secret that at least seven quartermilers went missing when a WADA team came calling at Thiruvananthapuram. Somebody tipped them off and they left the center the day prior to the WADA team arrives. I feel that the top brass of the AFI knew the seriousness of the situation and they have shifted the trial to Patiala from Thiruvananthapuram so that they undergo dope tests there," an athletics coach told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

"NIS Patiala is a place where dope testing is done on a regular basis and it's more difficult to escape testing there than at Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram camps," he said.

"It is not difficult to roughly know who could be selected in the relay team and taking these relay runners into account, it is clear that at least 10 athletes in the Asian Championships team are yet to undergo dope tests," he added.
Testing these relay runners at the eleventh hour runs the risk of India sending some athletes whose dope status is not known, though AFI officials said the results could be known before the departure of the team on May 30.