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What's the story?
Former ace sprinter Anand Menezes voiced his concerns about the doping scenario in India and expressed desires of taking absolutely strict decisions against the involved athletes. Menezes, himself was a force to reckon with in the latter half of the nineties.
He has won more than 100 medals at the national-level athletics meet. He has also clinched gold medals at the World Railway Games, South Asian Athletics competition.
In case you didn't know...
The issue about doping in India came into the limelight in the preceding days to the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games held last month. Needles were discovered in the rooms of two Indian athletes from the boxing contingent and they were asked to leave the venue. As the image of the nation was getting ruined at the world stage, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) adopted ‘no needle’ policy after the CWG incident.
The heart of the matter
Menezes, who is in Nagpur to inaugurate the Khasdar Krida Mahotsav athletics meet which got underway at the Nagpur University, expressed his staunch views about anti-doping measures that need to be adopted.
He was of the opinion that to curb the rising issue of doping in India, a provision of imprisonment along with ban should be introduced for the culprits.
Menezes, who has represented India in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and equals Milkha Singh's record of covering 200 m in 20.80 seconds, felt that this move will prove beneficial.
He says, “Such things happen due to lack of knowledge to the players. Therefore, they should always remain alert. Apart from ban, there is a provision of imprisonment to such athletes in America and Europe. India should also follow such strict laws to curb the doping menace permanently,” Menezes relayed to the press.
What's next?
Menezes sees a bright future for India ahead in athletics. Ever since 1997, he says that things have remarkably improved. Apart from getting tainted with doping, the Indian sporting scenario looks fine.
But he also mentions, there is a lot of room for improvement and how good coaching is necessary- "The role of a coach is very important in the development of sportsperson but the country lacks expert coaches. They can’t teach the art of how to seize the opportunity at an appropriate time. Coaches should always enhance their knowledge so that their trainees should be benefited from that updated knowledge,” he said.
Author's take
The rising menace of doping is truly a bothering issue. For India to properly shine for it's own merit, it needs to brush away the taint of doping. Getting tangled in meshes of such instances is never going to prove advantageous for the country at the world stage.
Menezes, being a former Olympian himself, still feels passionately for sports and echoes his concerns hence. Like him, everybody wishes that strict measures be taken against the guilty athletes and India's sporting flag reaches new heights in the distant future.
