Southeast Asia Games doping body to monitor four sports
Southeast Asia Games doping body to monitor four sports
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Athletes in four sports in the 21st
Southeast Asian Games will undergo frequent tests for possible
drug abuse in a bid to curb the menace, a top official said
Sunday.
The sports were track and field, swimming, weightlifting and
cycling, said chairman of the Medical Commission of the SEA Games
Federation, M. Jegathesan.
These sports were placed on close watch due to past incidents
of drug use and requests from the respective world governing
bodies, he said.
"While there will be random urine tests for participants of
all the sports, we will focus on these four sports," Jegathesan
told AFP on the sidelines of the 10-day games hosted by Malaysia.
"We are doing everything to ensure a clean SEA Games."
A total of 391 gold medals in 32 sports are at stake in the
region's biggest sporting jamboree featuring 4,500 athletes from
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Asked if he thought there could be drug abuse at the event,
Jegathesan said: "Usually in this kind of event, we will get a
couple (of cases)."
However, the commission had not yet found any athletes guilty
of using performance-enhancing drugs.
Jegathesan described the use of these substances by athletes
in Asia as a growing threat.
"Asia gets caught in the wave as well. It is something that we
need to pay attention to. We cannot ignore it," he said.
Jegathesan said those who took such substances must be
punished severely.
"They should be banned. There is no two-way about it," he
said.
Jegathesan said the 10-member commission, which includes
representatives from all the countries participating in the
games, would recommend what action is taken against anyone found
guilty of using drugs.
During the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian athlete
was stripped of his gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles after
testing positive for drugs.
"We do not want anyone to win by cheating through use of
stimulants, steroids or any other performance-enhancing
substances," he said.
Jegathesan said participants should be aware that every
athlete could be subjected to a urine test.
He also warned athletes to be mindful of what they ate since
they could be consuming banned substances unintentionally.
Early this month three Malaysian athletes were tested for
drugs after a tip-off that they had taken performance-enhancing
substances ahead of the SEA Games.
The surprise tests were conducted to ensure that the Malaysian
contingent for the games was scandal free. Results have yet to be
announced.