BCCI to pay more for top-class dope tests

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri

Byline: Jasvinder Sidhu

New Delhi: After years of resistance, the BCCI yesterday finally agreed to come under the ambit of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) rules. From the upcoming domestic season onwards, "all cricketers" will be tested by NADA only.

"The meeting went well. BCCI have raised some issues which we will address. From the upcoming domestic season, NADA will conduct the tests on cricket players, not ITDM [Swedish agency International Doping Tests and Management]," Navin Agarwal, Director General (DG) NADA said following the meeting with BCCI officials here. So far, ITDM had been conducting the dope tests for BCCI.

BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and General Manager (Cricket Operations) Syed Saba Karim met Sports secretary, Radheshyam Jhulaniya here yesterday. NADA DG Agarwal was also present at the meeting.

After the meeting, Johri said, "The BCCI will agree to the law of the land. We have raised concerns which the sports secretary assured us will be addressed. We also agreed to bear the differential cost of high-quality testing."

According to sports secretary Jhulaniya, BCCI raised three issues at the meeting. The first concern was about the quality of the dope testing kits. Second was about the competence of pathologists. Thirdly, they wanted clarity about sample collection. The ministry has assured them that NADA will provide all facilities that are world-class and the BCCI would have to pay for them, which the BCCI agreed to. The secretary also said that henceforth all cricketers would be tested by NADA and not ITDM.

When asked to explain the term "all cricketers", Agarwal said, "All cricketers means all cricketers. It's up to you how you want to interpret it."

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