The Hindustan Times published a report earlier this month critical of young athletes as “habitual dope offenders” and alleging that the National Anti Doping Agency has cut its testing such that only five urine samples were taken during the 2016 All India Police volleyball cluster championships.
That volleyball tournament – the 65th annual version of the event – took place back in December of 2016. It was hosted in Visakhapatnam by the Andhra predesh police force, according to an event website. That website says that the All India Police Games includes 1631 men and women spread out across a number of sports including volleyball, basketball, handball and yoga.
The Hindustan Times mentions the tournament in its doping piece, claiming that the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) only took five urine samples at the event. The Hindustan Times piece mentions several major events it claims had lax doping testing, including the All India Police hockey championship (four samples collected) and hockey junior world cup (12 players tested).
The main focus of the piece is what the Times calls “habitual dope offenders.” It reports on a newsletter from NADA that reveals several young athletes who have failed doping tests recently: a college-level high-jumper, a teenage shot-putter and a state-level thrower. The report says that of 80-some Indian athletes to fail doping tests last year, 20 of them were high school or college age.
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