Ex-SAI doctor bares 'systemic doping'

In a bare-all article that takes the lid off the doping racket in Indian sports, former head of sports medicine at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Dr Ashok Ahuja has detailed the "structured systemic doping" at NIS, Patiala, which, according to him, has been going on for over a decade with the knowledge and blessings of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
Blog:Sports: Real dope on doping
Dr Ahuja writes: "The kingpins (of the doping system ) were Dr Yuri Boyko (a Ukrainian doctor) and Dr Alexander (training method expert who was part of the support staff) who were brought by the AFI in 1998 with the sole and ulterior motive of pumping athletes with performance enhancing drugs with no regard to their health."
He says Boyko demanded "300-500 syringes and tons of supplements", to which the SAI doctors had objected. He recalls the regular "post-dinner jabs" given to athletes about which everyone at the NIS knew , but no one "had the guts" to challenge Boyko and his associates.
All sports bodies-SAI, NIS, and even the sports ministry-would look the other way "because new national records were being made".
As a doctor, Ahuja could see the altered values in the metabolism and lipid profiles of athletes whenever they came for a check-up.
He says the lynchpin of this process was the AFI, whose secretary for over 15 years is Lalit Bhanot, now in Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scandal.
Click here to read the full story in TOI Crest