India’s badminton ace Saina Nehwal said Thursday that doping in the country was widespread, adding that news of eight athletes testing positive for banned substances was no surprise to her.
“I know many athletes and weightlifters who themselves tell me that ‘we take it’,” the world number six was quoted as saying in the local media.
“It’s sad that so many of the CWG (Commonwealth Games) and Asian Games medal winners tested positive, but I’m not totally surprised.” Eight Indian athletes, including gold-medal runners Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose and Ashwini Akkunji, have failed drugs tests in recent days, denting the country’s Olympic ambitions.
The trio were part of the women’s 4x400m relay teams that won the gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, last year.
Akkunji also claimed the 400m hurdles Asiad title in a personal best time. All athletes have been provisionally suspended pending the testing of their second, or “B”, samples. “Athletes and the weightlifters, in most cases, are less educated or not educated at all. They just take what their coaches give them,” said Nehwal, who won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
