 "This 100-metre race in Delhi saw only one athlete turn up. Here is why")
The final day of the Delhi State Athletics Championship (September 23-26) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the national capital turned into a cat-and-mouse game between athletes and doping control authorities.
As word circulated that National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) officers had dropped in on Tuesday, the number of participants fell by half.
This comes a day after a purported video of the washroom at the stadium showed piles of used syringes.
Speaking on the development, a senior coach told The Indian Express, "We have eight finalists in the track events, but only three or four turned up. This is the state of affairs. In the junior steeplechase event, a girl continued to run even after crossing the finish line. A doping control officer had to chase her to get her sample."
In the men's 100-metre final, Lalit Kumar was the lone athlete at the starting blocks. The remaining seven sprinters said that they were suffering from "cramps" or "muscle strain".
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Kumar, who was competing in his first senior-level event, was taken aback by the unexpected absence of his fellow competitors.
"I was really looking forward to competing against the best athletes, but nobody showed up. Everyone was scared of getting tested. As an athlete, I feel very hurt and let down," he told The Indian Express.
"This is the first time I've seen a 100-metres event with just one participant. As soon as the NADA officials arrived, the number of participants dropped to 50 per cent," said an official.
Meanwhile, in the Under-20 boys' 100-metre final, only three of the finalists turned up. The Under-16 boys' hammer throw also saw just one participant.
"Some of the athletes did not even turn up to collect their medals," said Delhi State Athletics Association president Sunny Joshua.
Joshua stated that they were concerned about the dropouts, but they could do little. "Our job is to educate the athletes and coaches, but we can't constantly monitor what they are doing during practice or behind our backs. Doping in athletics is a huge menace and we are firmly against it," he said.