Sports News | More Than 900 Samples Collected for Dope Tests by NADA in June and July Ahead of Asian Games, 199 from Athletics

New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) collected more than 900 dope samples from athletes of various sports, with a whopping 199 coming from track and field, in June and July ahead of the upcoming Asian Games.

The national anti-doping watchdog collected 914 samples, mostly urine though few are of blood, from June 1 to July 31, according to the latest data released by NADA on Thursday.

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Athletics is followed by boxing (71), aquatics (65), weightlifting (56), cycling (55), kabaddi (52), wrestling (46), shooting (43) in the number of samples collected in these two months.

The number of samples in other sports are: wushu (35), fencing (33), canoe (32), badminton (24), hockey (23), triathlon (23), rowing (20), archery (15), football (11), judo (11), softball (10), electronic sports (8), sport climbing (7) and cricket (2).

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The names of almost all the top track and field athletes who train in the country or took part in domestic events, including the likes of Murali Sreeshankar, Shaili Singh, Eldhose Paul, Abdulla Aboobacker, Jyothi Yarraji, Tejaswin Shankar, Praveen Chitravel, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Annu Rani, Parul Chaudahary, Priyanka Goswami and Amlan Borgohain, figured in the list.

Other track and field athletes who have undergone dope tests include Jinson Johnson, Sandeep Kumar, Shivpal Singh, Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Mijo Chacko Kurian, VK Vismaya, Krishan Kumar, PU Chitra, Abhishek Pal, Gulveer Singh, Abha Khatua, Rohit Yadav, Paramjeet Bisht, Vikas Singh, Bhawna Jat, Seema Punia, B Siva Kumar, Sarvesh Anil Kushare, KM Deeksha, Ancy Sojan, Ram Baboo, Aishwarya Mishra, Noah Tom Nirmal, Kishore Jena, DP Manu, Abha Khatua, Akshdeep Singh, Sanjivani Jadhav, Swapna Barman and KM Chanda.

The data also shows that around 30 samples were collected during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar (June 15-19), which had served as the selection trial for the Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23.

Among cricketers, Hardik Pandya and Smriti Mandhana gave samples during these two months.

In hockey, goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is the lone male player while the remaining are female players.

In football, 10 male players -- Muhammed Ashique Kuluniyan, Anwar Ali, Gurmeet, Rahim Ali, Thounaojam Jeakson Singh, Mehtab Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Naorem Mahesh, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Liston Colaco -- underwent dope tests, while one is a female player.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)