PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The Sports department has not received any official information from the National Anti-doping Agency (NADA) concerning the doping violations involving players who participated and won medals in the 38th National Games hosted by Uttarakhand.
Special principal secretary of Sports Amit Sinha said this following recent reports that claimed that 11 athletes had tested positive for doping during the recently concluded National Games in Uttarakhand, which took place from January 28 to February 14. The NADA conducted the testing of players during the event. Some reports claim that some of those who tested positive are medalists, with a notable six players from Punjab.
Additionally, Wushu athlete Neeraj Joshi from Uttarakhand has also reportedly tested positive. NADA has issued a temporary suspension for eight of the 11 athletes due to the use of prohibited performance-enhancing substances. Among those suspended is Amritpal Singh, a well-known basketball player from Punjab who has competed in prestigious leagues in Australia and Japan in the past. This marks the second doping offense for Singh, who had won a gold medal for Punjab in these games. According to sources, a combination of multiple drugs was detected in the samples of Wushu athletes Neeraj Joshi and Rahul Tomar.
Regarding any actions taken by the Sports department in this matter, Sinha said that the department has not yet received any official list of doping violations from NADA. As a result, they are not in a position to initiate any actions or verification processes. He said that without the official list from NADA, they cannot comment on any potential actions.
