BCCI to support players on WADA code

New Delhi, Aug02 (ANI): The deadlock between the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) continues, after the BCCI backed its players and refused to accept the 'whereabouts' clause.

The 'whereabouts' clause which makes it necessary for the players to give details about their availability for one hour every day between 6 am and 11 pm for random out-of-competition testing by WADA officials.

The BCCI Working Committee, which met in Mumbai on Sunday, to sort out the issue of senior players refusal to sign the WADA Anti-Doping Code to which the International Cricket Council (ICC) is a signatory.

The BCCI in turn requested the ICC to negotiate with the WADA to rework on the clause. India is the only cricket-playing nation, which has not signed the clause yet.

The ICC had asked all its affiliated members to get their players sign the WADA Code, but the BCCI was faced with the reluctance of eleven of its players, including two women, to comply it. The players were unhappy with the 'whereabouts' clause.

Meanwhile, WADA said these are powerful deterrents and means of detecting doping by athletes, and in line with its revised International Standard for Testing (IST), which came into effect along with the revised Anti-Doping Code from January.

"Whereabouts" are information provided by a limited number of top elite athletes about their location to the International Sports Federation (IF) or National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO) that included them in their respective registered testing pool as part of these top athletes' anti-doping responsibilities.

Indian cricketers who are part of the country's testing pool are Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj.

But the Indian players felt that the clause not only infringes on their privacy, but also makes it difficult for them since they are not aware of their programmes two months in advance during the off-season.

Above all the WADA rule which make the players to face the disciplinary action on missing of three dope tests and/or failure to provide accurate whereabouts information within an 18-month period, made the situation serious. (ANI)