Dr Naser Al Ansari, Chairman of Qatar AntiDoping Commission gives a presentation during 'The History of Doping and Anti-Doping' symposium at Museum of Islamic Arts yesterday. Pic: Shaival Dalal
By Azmat Haroon
Doha: Forty-one sportsmen were caught doping in Qatar in the last five years. The athletes from disciplines like football, volleyball, handball and weightlifting were found using opiates, steroids and a mix of stimulants, with hashish being the most common.
“These were all sports-related cases, where we found players violating the rules by using doping substances,” Dr Naser Al Ansari, Chairman of Qatar National Anti-doping Commission (QNADC), told The Peninsula.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day symposium on the history of doping and anti-doping organised by the Anti-Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ) and the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum here yesterday.
In a recent case presented before the appeal’s committee, a Somali-American athlete was slapped with a two-year ban for taking hashish, he reportedly had during partying here.
“In some other countries, he could have just been given a warning. But here, because of religious reasons, the committee is strict because it believes that a Muslim shouldn’t take hashish,” he said, adding that he often tries to convince local committee members to evaluate such violations independently, irrespective of religious backgrounds, when handing out bans.
In 2010, at least two volleyball players of local clubs, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd, were slapped with one and two-year bans, respectively, for using prohibited substances.
Athletes found using or possessing prohibited substances potentially face ban from sports that can last anywhere from six months to life-time in serious cases. In the existing setup, the local Commission does not pass on such information to the police, Dr Al Ansari said.
In exceptional cases, athletes found using banned steroids may just be warned if they decide to cooperate with the authorities to help catch people involved in its distribution.
The bigger challenge, according to Dr Al Ansari, is to catch the people involved in the illicit doping trade in Qatar.
“These athletes get help from outside, sometimes from their doctors, coaches or peers. There are people involved in the trade of transporting doping medicines- and we do not have a law to punish them,” he said.
Anti-doping rules currently apply to athletes and sports personnel only. For those who bring doping substances through the airport, it is very difficult for QNADC to punish them in the absence of a law.
“The anti-doping law will help us deal with the challenges because the problem is not just related to sports. You need to catch the people from outside who are providing substances to athletes,” he said. Dr Ansari also said that the general perception about stimulants here was not necessarily a ‘bad’ one, where many people thought of ‘munshetat’ in terms of energy-driven medicines and not ‘doping’.
The Peninsula
