The recent reports have suggested that three high-ranking National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials, along with six veteran Dope Control Officers (DCOs), will be travelling to the UAE for collecting the samples of the players during this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, which is scheduked to commence on September 19. According to sources of PTI in the NADA, the agency is targeting to collect the minimum of 50 samples during In-Competition (IC) and Out-of-Competition (OOC) testing during the 53-day event which will run till November 10.
Dewscribing the same, a senior BCCI official told PTI, “NADA will have nine people in UAE and they will also take help of the UAE’s National Anti Doping Organization if they require further manpower, in this case chaperones who help in sample collection.”
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NADA will have three teams with one official and two DCOs who will be present at each of the three venues and they will be suppirted by local NADO staff in each of the units. However, he didn’t divulge whether the entire cost will be borne by NADA or the BCCI will share bill as the IPL 2020 is being held outside India.
In India, it’s the NADA which bears the cost of collection, transportation and testing. As one of the sources of PTI confirmed, “The NADA officers will be asked to stay in the BCCI created bio bubble.”
The NADA has asked the BCCI to prepare five separate Dope Control Stations (DCS) in the UAE — three at the match venues in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai along with two at the practice facilities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
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While the sample numbers may be limited but it is expected that the BCCI might collect a few blood samples too as transportation from Dubai to the WADA-accredited lab in Doha will be easier.
It can be expected that logistics will not be much of a problem in the UAE compared to India where rising cases of COVID-19 have caused operational difficulties for NADA.
