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.