In India, the doping scandal involving school children is threatening to take shocking proportions with schools from Punjab and Maharashtra topping the list of offenders.

Eleven children - from boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting - tested positive for steroids and diuretics during the 57th National School Games, which concluded recently in New Delhi, according to NationalAnti-Doping Agency .

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

While the three wrestlers tested positive for diuretic furosemide (a substance used to mask the presence of prohibited substances in the body), the weightlifters’ samples contained the steroid stanozolol THC (found in marijuana). The boxers tested positive for a cocktail of banned drugs - stanozolol THC (marijuana), methylhexaneamine and nandrolone.

Those caught for doping in wrestling are from schools in Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while in weightlifting the positive cases came from the students of Delhi and Punjab schools. In boxing, the positive samples were found in students from Maharashtra, Manipur and Punjab.

“This has become a very serious matter. That 14 per cent of the samples have returned positive is a matter of shame for the schools and officials. It is much higher than the national average of 4 per cent,” NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar told TOI.

Tags:  boxing, diuretic, diuretics, doping scandal, furosemide, methylhexaneamine, Nandrolone, Stanozolol, steroid, Steroids, weightlifting, wrestling

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SA Boxing Featherweight champion Matima Molefe has been banned for two years by the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

This was after the boxer tested positive for anabolic steroids after the featherweight title fight in May this year.

From Sport24.co.za:

The banned substances were found in Molefe’s urine sample, which was taken by the Institute’s doping control officials on 29 May 2011, after the featherweight title fight in East London.

Khalid Galant, CEO of the Institute of Drug-Free Sport, says that Matima tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic agent, Nandrolone.

Latest doping figures show that anabolic steroid doping amongst boxers is becoming a trend because of the misconception that steroids alone will enhance their performance and give them additional strength and power.

Galant says that drug abuse by professional boxers is becoming rife, with four positives out of 87 tests reported for the period April 2010 to March 2011.

“Boxing is a sport that combines high level co-ordination of gross motor skills with speed and strength. By focusing on illegal performance gains from steroids and ignoring the consequences that a doping ban can have, boxers are placing their championship status and earning potential at risk,.” Gallant said.

Tags:  anabolic steroid doping, Anabolic steroids, boxing, featherweight champion, Matima Molefe, Nandrolone, Steroids

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The Barcelona coach, Josep Guardiola, has been cleared by a sports anti-doping tribunal from drug charges.

Anti-doping tribunal of CONI rejected the appeal after prosecuting office of the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) reopened the case.

From Espnstar.com:

Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola has been finally cleared by a sports anti-doping tribunal from drug charges.

The case started when Guardiola was a Brescia player in the Serie A in 2001.

Guardiola was then tested positive for nandrolone, a performance-enhancing drug, in November 2001 and was suspended for four months.

He denied doping and appealed the sentence. He was then cleared in 2007 by the Italian football federation (FIGC).

The case dates back to 2001 when the coach of Barcelona team was a Brescia player in the Serie A.

Tags:  doping, Josep Guardiola, Nandrolone

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Mohammad Asif, a fast bowler player from Pakistan, has accused eye drops after being accused of using performance enhancing drugs during the inaugral successful Indian Premier League (IPL).

London-based medical expert Michael Graham told Times Now, “Asif has pleaded to using Keratyl eye drops for a medical eye condition. He had an inflammatory eye condition which was impeding his cricket.”

From Espnstar.com:

He added: “He could not see very well with his left eye and as a consequence of that he required specialised ophthalmic opinion in Pakistan and he had that treatment.

“And, as was known to Asif, it (Keratyl) contained a prohibited substance nandrolone.

“Sadly this showed up in his urine.”

The 26-year-old was banned from all forms of cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board immediately after the adverse test was made public in July.

Asif had requested for his ‘B’ sample to be tested which also returned a positive result for the drug.

He then appeared before the tribunal on October 11, but the adjudicating members adjourned that meeting without deciding on a verdict and scheduled a second meeting for November 29.

The player was summoned to appear before a committee of medicines to make a statement on use of the banned substance nandrolone during the inaugural IPL, Asif said he had used eye drops that elevated levels of nandrolone in his system.

Tags:  Indian Premier League, IPL, Mohammad Asif, Nandrolone

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Linford Christie, Olympic gold medalist, will address the Parliament’s committee investigating the performance enhancing drugs.

Two scholars, Roger Maughan, of Loughborough University, and Julian Savulescu of Oxford, will also address the committee.

From Guardian.co.uk:

MPs say the inquiry focuses on the opportunities and problems presented by the increasing availability of technologies capable of enhancing sporting performance, including use of performance enhancing drugs, gene doping and technological devices.

The inquiry will be launched next month with a seminar, which will be addressed by Mr Christie, 100m gold medallist in 1992 who later tested positive for nandrolone and was banned for two years.

He is now a coach who runs his own consultancy and marketing agency, which has declined to comment on his appearance at the Commons.

“They wanted him to be the person who did it [the address]. I don’t think he has much to say about it in advance,” said a spokeswoman.

The Commons Science and Technology Committee is carrying out the study of human enhancement technologies in sport in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.

Tags:  gene doping, Linford Christie, London Olympic, Nandrolone, performance-enhancing drugs

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Mohammad Asif, the fast bowler from Pakistan, has blamed his positive test in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on eye drops prescribed for an inflammatory condition.

London-based medical expert Michael Graham told Times Now, “Asif has pleaded to using Keratyl eye drops for a medical eye condition. He had an inflammatory eye condition which was impeding his cricket.”

From Espnstar.com:

He added: “He could not see very well with his left eye and as a consequence of that he required specialised ophthalmic opinion in Pakistan and he had that treatment.

“And, as was known to Asif, it (Keratyl) contained a prohibited substance nandrolone.

“Sadly this showed up in his urine.”

The 26-year-old was banned from all forms of cricket by the Pakistan Cricket Board immediately after the adverse test was made public in July.

Asif had requested for his ‘B’ sample to be tested which also returned a positive result for the drug.

He then appeared before the tribunal on October 11, but the adjudicating members adjourned that meeting without deciding on a verdict and scheduled a second meeting for November 29.

The bowler was summoned before a drugs panel for making use of the banned substance nandrolone during the inaugural edition of the IPL; Asif remarked that he had used eye drops that raised the levels of nandrolone in his system.

Tags:  Indian Premier League, IPL, Mohammad Asif, Nandrolone

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Linford Christie, the Olympic gold medalist, will be addressing a committee of MPs which is looking into performance enhancing drugs.

Two academics, Roger Maughan, of the University of Loughborough, and Julian Savulescu, of Oxford, will also be addressing the committee.

From Guardian.co.uk:

MPs say the inquiry focuses on the opportunities and problems presented by the increasing availability of technologies capable of enhancing sporting performance, including use of performance enhancing drugs, gene doping and technological devices.

The inquiry will be launched next month with a seminar, which will be addressed by Mr Christie, 100m gold medallist in 1992 who later tested positive for nandrolone and was banned for two years.

He is now a coach who runs his own consultancy and marketing agency, which has declined to comment on his appearance at the Commons.

“They wanted him to be the person who did it [the address]. I don’t think he has much to say about it in advance,” said a spokeswoman.

The Commons science and technology committee is undertaking an inquiry into human enhancement technologies in sport in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Tags:  gene doping, Linford Christie, London Olympic, Nandrolone, performance-enhancing drugs

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Bulgarian athlete Iva Prandjeva has tested positive for nandrolone, the banned drug, on the eve of the Olympic Games.

The athlete from Bulgaria was set to compete in Sydney in the long and triple jumps.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

Prandjeva is the latest in a line of athletes to test positive for the substance, including the English 400m runner Mark Richardson and now-retired 1992 Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie.

But there remains controversy as to what extent - if at all - it can be produced naturally as its presence in the body is sometimes put down as a result of using certain food supplements.

Prandjeva’s positive test is her second. She also showed traces of anabolic steroids at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

On that occasion she placed fourth in the triple jump and seventh in the long. Her results were scratched from the records and she served a two-year ban afterwards.

Prandjeva could now face a life ban for a second doping offence.

Tags:  Iva Prandjeva, Linford Christie, Mark Richardson, Nandrolone, supplements

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According to a statement issued by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Indian race walker, Rani Yadav, has tested positive for a banned steroid.

Yadav was suspended provisionally from the Delhi Commonwealth games 2010 after she became the third athlete to fail a doping test at the Oct. 3-14 Games after Nigerians Osayemi Oludamola and 110m hurdler Samuel Okon.

From in.reuters.com:

Norandrosterone is a metabolite of the banned muscle-building steroid nandrolone.

Yadav is the third athlete to fail a dope test at the Oct. 3-14 Games after Nigerians Osayemi Oludamola, who was stripped of the 100m gold medal, and 110m hurdler Samuel Okon.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Lalit Bhanot, secretary general of the local organising committee, told a news conference.

“We tried our level best. Not only the federations but also the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) tried with our out-of-competition tests.

“The government is very serious about these things. One can’t be controlled if the person is trying to take some forbidden substance to enhance their performance.”

A sample of the Indian athlete was found to contain 19-Norandrosterone, a prohibited Anabolic Agent under category S1 of the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) list of prohibited substances and methods.

Tags:  Delhi Commonwealth games 2010, Nandrolone, Norandrosterone, Rani Yadav, steroid

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The former Wimbledon champion and tennis great, John McEnroe, has unwittingly admitted that he used steroids for a period of six years.

This steroid admission followed a similar admission by Greg Rusedski that he tested positive for the banned steroid, nandrolone.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

“I was being given a form of legal steroid they gave to horses until they decided it was too strong even for them,” said McEnroe.

“I’m not sure some of the strong, anti-inflammatory drugs are that far removed from illegal ones.”

McEnroe added: “People have to become more aware of what they are putting into their bodies.

People are generally administered drugs too readily, McEnroe said.

Tags:  Greg Rusedski, John McEnroe, legal steroid, Nandrolone, steroid, Steroids

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