FIH to target individual random testing

NEW DELHI: Cricket has seen opposition to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s contentious whereabouts clause. But hockey, a WADA-compliant sport, is yet to move into the realm of individual out-of-competition testing and registered test pools (RTPs).

WADA, which introduced the clause last year, had said that the governing body of each sport would have to encourage and facilitate national federations to form RTPs – a select group of players who will reveal before every quarter details of their location for one hour every day for the next three months for out of competition testing.

WADA had set a deadline of 2009 for finalising the RTPs and the tests but obviously, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) hasn’t done the job yet, having spent a considerable amount of time studying and understanding the WADA process.

FIH technical manager Roger Webb told TOI that his organisation has spoken to WADA about it. “We do find it difficult as a team sport to gather whereabouts information or implement the clause. We have a good relationship with WADA and have explained to them the reason behind the delay. They have confidence in us.”

According to Webb, FIH had concentrated on out-of-competition tests among teams all through 2009 and early this year. “We have been targeting training camps all over the world for our random tests. Now we will have to move towards targeting individuals.”

Webb said the FIH was taking one step at a time. “We have told WADA that we should be ready with the RTPs in the next few months. We are talking to countries. Maybe, we will get the RTPs of two or three national teams, then we go to the next three or four. Already there are countries involved in extensive testing at the national level. Athletes from these countries too are highly informed about anti-doping and we hope to convince them. We should be able to work it out by the Monchengladbach Champions Trophy in July-August this year.”

Apparently, WADA will tend to be lenient as total compliance has not been a virtue among many sports.

Incidentally, in the case of cricket, WADA says the ICC anti-doping rules are in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code. “But we will continue to work with the ICC in the expectation that their out-of-competition testing programme, which has started, will advance and that the whereabouts requirements of the International Standard for Testing will be applied in cricket,” a release from WADA says.

Obviously, the same yardstick will be applied to hockey too.