Indian coach admits needles used by doctor to treat boxer
GOLD COAST: Needles found at the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village were used to treat a sick Indian boxer, a team coach has revealed.
The Indian Commonwealth Games Association was summoned to a please explain meeting with Games officials yesterday, days after needles were discovered by a cleaner near where the team’s boxers are staying.
Commonwealth Games Fed eration chief executive David Grevemberg confirmed a preliminary report had determined there was a ‘‘clear breach’’ of the village’s noneedles policy.
But what substance, if any, had been in the syringes was still under investigation, he said.
India’s boxing high performance director Santiago Nieva said one of his athletes felt ill and received a ‘‘vitamin substance’’ from a doctor.
‘‘I’m confident that our boxers [have] not taken anything,’’ Nieva told the Seven Network.
‘‘We had one boxer who didn’t feel very well and doctor has given him an injection.’’
India has a 12strong boxing team for the Games, with eight male and four female fighters.
Nieva said his boxers had undergone doping tests since the syringes were discovered and his team now understood the strictness of the noneedles policy.
For the Games, only approved medical practitioners or athletes with a condition requiring auto-injecting such as diabetes can take needles into the village.
Grevemberg said initial investigations indicated the needles were not approved.
‘‘This is very much an ongoing investigation but there has been a clear breach to the noneedle policy and the CGA has been summoned to meet with the medical commission,’’ he said.
Indian team officials were warned at the 2014 Glasgow Games about the use of needles and their correct disposal after syringes were found where their wrestlers and a paraathlete were staying.
Games Corporation chairman Peter Beattie said the situation was ‘‘very unhelpful’’ with just a day until tomorrow’s opening ceremony.
‘‘However, I think the most important thing from the Games point of view is to make certain that the appropriate processes are followed and if there’s a penalty that needs to be applied, that it’s applied,’’ he said.
The CGF has promised a zero tolerance approach to doping and says any athletes caught cheating will be thrown out of the Games.