Goalie Subrata Paul skips ‘B’ sample test, buys more time

NEW DELHI: Former Indian football skipper Subrata Paul has refused to appear for a confirmatory ‘B sample testing in the stipulated time frame and has sought more time to prepare his defence before the National Anti-doping Agency (NADA).

Paul, who had flunked an out-of-competition dope test on March 18 in Mumbai, was set a deadline till Monday to get his ‘B’ sample tested in the presence of an independent govern- ment observer, but he failed to turn up at the NADA headquarters in the national capital. The Arjuna awardee had been informed about his ‘A’ sample returning positive last Monday (April 24) and was given a week’s time by NADA for his ‘B’ sample testing.

The ‘B’ sample tests are usually carried out in the presence of an independent observer.

According to sources, as per NADA’S protocol, a disciplinary panel under a retired High Court judge will be constituted within a week where the 31-year-old Paul will now have to prove his innocence. Paul’s refusal to appear for his ‘B’ sample tests on Monday has raised a few eyebrows whether the Bengal footballer, who was suffering from a bronchial problem during the Mumbai camp, deliberately consumed the cough syrup, which apparently had a banned substance named Terbutaline. “I am shocked. I have never cheated with football and trust me, I never will. All those who know me and I mean play- ers, coaches and officials at all the clubs that I have played in and those with the national team will tell you that I am not someone who would take a banned substance,” he had said. “Moreover, I have been subjected to at least 15 such tests in my time with the national team and have never failed one. There have also been random tests after I-league games too. At this stage of my career, why would I do something like this? I have asked the AIFF for advice and have also reached out to the medical staff at North East United, DSK Shivajians and the national team doctor. I have not taken any medicine without prescription,” he had also added. Before Paul, defender Arun Malhotra, then with East Bengal, couldn’t travel to the 2002 Busan Asian Games because he had failed a dope test. In 2011, Nishant Mehra of Mumbai FC failed a test conducted by the I-league. PARIS: The European Athletics Council has come up with a radical plan that would wipe out existing European and world records and set a clean slate as part of the fight against doping.

The proposal was adopted during the Council’s meeting in Paris over the weekend, and president Svein Arne Hansen admitted it was “revolutionary”.

In a nod to the stain that doping has left on athletics, he also said that “performance records that show the limits of human capabilities are one of the great strengths of our sport, but they are meaningless if people don’t really believe them”.

“It’s a radical solution for sure, but those of us who love athletics are tired of the cloud of doubt and innuendo that has hung over our records for too long.”

The project proposes that world and European records only be recognised if achieved at approved international events and if the athlete concerned “has been subject to an agreed number of doping control tests in the months leading up to the performance”, a statement said.

All records set before a date that has yet to be defined will remain but only on a list of old ords.

The plan will be put forward to the council meeting of world governing body the IAAF in August.