National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has finally shown that it will look beyond athletes in its battle against the doping menace. NADA brought a coach to book for the first time, but more than making history, it has intensified its quest to bring India lower on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s annual list of nations with the highest anti-doping rule violations.
A ban of four years was imposed on athletics coach Mickey Menezes for injecting his trainee, Kirti Bhoite, a banned substance ahead of the Khelo India Youth Games 2020 in Guwahati where won the 200m gold and the 100m bronze. The athlete told the Appeal Panel that the Maharashtra Athletics Association had penalised her coach on her complaint.
Acting on that, NADA laid charges against Mickey Menezes and the Disciplinary Panel imposed sanctions on him. Of course, the case and the outcome against are significant since it is the first NADA action against any athlete support personnel. There were similar opportunities at least twice, but NADA let them go abegging.
It missed the chance of investigating specific allegations against a coach in 2016. A 400m runner Deepan Chakravarthi, who tested positive for Stanozolol, told an Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) that coach MV Rajasekhar gave him and other athletes in Chennai supplements insisting that they were energy and vitamin tablets.
Then in 2020, a teenaged weightlifter from Haryana who tested positive for anabolic steroid, Metenolone, presented NADA with a chance to get deeper into the scourge of doping by revealing that her coach injected her with some substance prior to the 2018 National Youth and Junior Championships in Nagpur.
Tamanna Singhal confessed her coach’s role before the National Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) in 2020. “Upon consistent questioning (by the doctor on the panel, Dr. Navin Dang), the athlete also admitted to having been injected with some substance by her coach prior to the competition,” the ADAP order said.
If any attempt was made to bring the coach to book, it was a well-guarded secret.
Finally, in the case of Kirti Bhoite, NADA ensured that it did miss the bus a third time. It took appropriate action, laying a charge against the coach. An ADDP afforded him an opportunity to defend himself. Though he filed a written explanation, Mickey Menezes did not appear before the panel to defend himself.
The coach sought to shift the blame on to the ‘supplier’ by saying that he had been assured that the product (Propionate) he injected into the athlete was completely dope-free and beneficial for sprinters. He said the ‘supplier’ later changed his position and said the steroid would get washed away in 10 days or so.
The panel held that the coach as athlete support personnel, could not deflect responsibility and established that he had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation to gain undue advantage from the performance of his trainee. It awarded Mickey Menezes a four-year ineligibility from coaching, training and other activities and imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000.
It is not every day that athletes make specific allegations but, however few and far between, they need to be investigated so that coaches around the country will think twice before leading their trainees down the terrible road, dotted with greed. NADA must protect athletes against unscrupulous coaches.
Of course, the Indian Weightlifting Federation suspended as many as 45 coaches whose trainees were banned for Anti-Doping Rule Violations between 2010 and 2016. Similarly, the Maharashtra Athletics Association investigated and banned Mickey Menzes for four years. Yet, it is different when NADA gets to the bottom of it and initiates punitive action an errant coach.
If India is to win its battle against doping, NADA must play a stronger role in instilling fear among coaches. The onus of proving the allegation lies with the athlete, but it is important for NADA to not rest content with educating athletes, collecting samples and move charges against those who test positive for a banned substance.
Besides leading NADA to the coach who allegedly injected her with a banned substance prior to the competition, Kirti Bhoite may have done some other athlete/s who could possibly face a similar situation a big favour. She will also have inspired other athletes to be on guard against supplements recommended by their coaches, trainers and friends.
