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What's the story?
With the Asian Games in full swing, The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is leaving no stone unturned to check for doping issues in the Indian contingent.
On Monday, the OCA's anti-doping council raided the Athlete's Village on the lookout for a few relay runners whose samples they needed. The relay members were away at practice then some 25 km away from the Village venue.
However, the anti-doping officials took samples of star athlete Hima Das and Nirmala Seorang on Tuesday.
In case you didn't know...
The wound inflicted on India's image at the world stage during the 21st edition of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games must have a deep one for the doping council has laid strict eyes on the Indian contingent.
The entire fiasco that happened with the Indian boxing contingent and the syringes being discovered has made the anti-doping agency extremely vary.
The heart of the matter
The crux of the incident lies in the fact that the recently crowned Under-20 World Champion, the doe-eyed girl from Assam, Hima Das was also made to undergo the tests and her samples were duly collected.
Das will be looking to extend her dominance in the quarter-mile race event she is partaking in. She has been quite the force to reckon with ever since she shot into the circuit.
Das competed at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the 400 metres and the 4x400 metres relay. In the 400 metres, Das qualified for the final where she finished sixth in a time of 51.32 seconds
The small girl from Assam soon became the first Indian track athlete to hold a global title on winning the Gold medal at the World U-20 Championships 2018 at Tampere, Finland, in Women's 400m with a time of 51.46 seconds.
Apart from Hima's sample being collected, Nirmala Sheoran was also made to undergo these tests. The Haryana-born player who has two Asian Championships Golds to her name will also be participating in the 400 m event later in the Asian Games once Athletics commences.
What's next?
The Athletics section of the Asian Games is set to unfurl in the last week of the Asian Games and it's great to see so many safety measures being adopted by the anti-doping agency to prevent confusions and avoid fiascos.
This is an applaudable gesture on behalf of the OCA to check for foul play. Das, Sheoran will have to wait until the last week of the Games to bring it all out on the track and create history once again!
