Increasing cases of blood doping has pointed its finger at Indian athletes, as experts scratch their heads on the possibility of it happening.
Reports that claimed leaked results from 12,000 blood tests on 5000 competitors brought into light, the wide extent of cheating in the sport. Experts reviewed that the analysis of the blood levels of medal winners at World Championships and Olympics between 2001 and 2012 indicated a third of athletics medals were won by competitors who had given suspicious tests.
An Indian expert said that blood doping in India could be possible as erythropoietin (EPO) is available in India and athletes might have used it, considering the reports are true. “I don't know whether these reports about Indian athletes would have been true or not. But at the same time, you cannot rule out blood doping in India as EPO is available in the market,” Sports Medicine expert P S M Chandran said. “Blood doping can be in two ways. Earlier, it was done through transfusion of one's own blood. An athlete withdraws his own blood, stores it at freeze point and re-infuses it before competition. Now, the latest is the easier one, that is by injecting banned substance erythropoietin. This EPO is available in India and so you can't ruled out blood doping in India.”
Officials of AFI and NADA did not respond. An official in the know of this blood testing said that so far the National Dope Testing Laboratory in the country has not found adverse blood testing. And said if at all Indians are to be caught for blood doping, it could be from samples collected by IAAF or WADA at the top world events like World Championships and Olympic Games.
