BCCI and some of its players have raised concerns against certain requirements by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) whereby the athlets/players are required to provide information on their whereabouts. As usual the bad boys of Indian cricket and the arrogant association amongst all have started objecting to ICC on the WADA thingie. Let’s analyze the problem from the ground up.
What exactly is WADA?
WADA was established in 1999 primarily promoted by the International Olympic Committee. The WADA anti-doping rules and procedures has been successfully in practice for the past 10 years across 190 plus nations. The disqualifications and testing-positive news that we get to hear from time to time in various events are all the results of good efforts put together by this Swiss-based agency.
What makes WADA controversial?
In 2004 WADA introduced this requirements whereby all athlets from the respective sports governing bodies need to provide their whereabouts for the weekdays which help them to test them for drug-usage arbitrarily at any point of time. Further in 2009 they extended this rule for all days of the week. This triggered some controversies however most organizations decided to abide by this rule as there was no other alternatives or proposals available.
ICC & WADA
The International Cricket Council has been practicing WADA regulations for a while. It may be recalled that the big names like Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar etc had been tamed under the purview of Anti-dope rules in the past. This essentially is good for the game as well as the long term welfare of the athlets.
BCCI’s stand!
BCCI in view of their players’ interest has been challenging the ICC for a while and made it clear that they do not want to proceed with the WADA rules. I have the following view on BCCI’s decision and some of its spoilt brats’ comment in the media.
- BCCI has this dirty habit of challenging anything that everything that the ICC brings forward. This is mainly driven by arrogance and cash that they have. Everytime some controversy has been triggered by an Indian – whether it’s for good or bad – the BCCI used to armtwist ICC its way. It’s more of an inferiority complex or (old) colonial mindset whereby whatever being said and done by the British is questioned
- A number of other sports bodies in India itself are bound by WADA rules and all athlets respect it. The biggies like Abhinav Bhindra and tennis stars have made it clear that it’s good for the game? Cricketers are no exception to any rule and they are not gods as some of them think
- If the game of cricket has to flourish and spread they have to abide by the international rules and otherwise it will be still a game played by 10 or 12 commonwealth countries. Further, if they have to include the game back in Olympics sometime, WADA has to be respected as well
- BCCI has to help ICC in taking a call on WADA rather than objecting it as ICC’s brainchild. This is purely shortsighted thinking
- Some of the cricketers feel that it’s an infringement to their privacy and security. Many cricketers are already having less privacy when they are escorted by the commandos and security personal. Can WADA’s whereabout rules make it worse? Afterall, the whereabouts information is strictly confidential and not shared with anybody other than the testing group itself. Also, when a sportsman play for India, they are dedicating their life to play for the nation. These cricketers are acting funny because BCCI is still not a government body though they claim to play for India
All in all, I feel that all cricket bodies should help ICC to adopt WADA and if there are amendments required that should be adopted at a broader level and not just within the Cricket bodeis. After all, cricket governing bodies have barely any visibility in the global arena of sports!