Vatata WADA….Vatata WADA [Video]
Will someone please please tell Sania and Saina, Bhupati and Bindra and all the rest of the people to just stop lecturing Indian cricketers? It does not matter to our Men Who Do Blue if all the world’s top athletes go through the “Tell us where you are one hour of the day” regimen the WADA requires.
Why?
Because they are different.
First of all there is the consideration of security. Even Angshuman Gaekwad says he would not give his whereabouts in advance, considering the kind of threats Indian cricketers face. If Gaekwad, whose batting put the ZZZZ into Z-category security and whose name only the most cricket-mad of terrorists would know (like the kind who saw him bat for his 201 at Jullundur, an innings as entertaining as having your four wisdom teeth extracted at once with a crowbar), considers this WADA clause a risk, what do you think would be the escalation in the threat levels for Dhoni, who goes around with a all-female security detail, if news got out as to his exact whereabouts for one hour a day?
Now one may argue that this information is not made public and is known only to very few WADA officials. Some may even argue that cricketers often go to parties, fashion shows and discos as part of pre-publicized promotional events and thus voluntarily disclose their locations in advance.
To these people, I just want to repeat Prabhuji’s immortal line in “Classic Dance of Love” , the one that he said as he thrust his bloodied hand into a character’s face
“Chatega ise?”
Then there is the question of privacy, something that Indian cricketers have the right to cherish more than any other sportsmen in the world.
“We probably play more than any other sportsperson. I think our concerns are different from theirs,” he told CNN-IBN.
“We are playing cricket for nine or ten months, then come back home for like 10 days or so and you want your own privacy. You don’t want to tell anyone where you are. You don’t want to be intruded at that time when you are with your family and friends,” he said.
Bingo. Now tell me do you want to intrude on cricketers when after months of ceaseless and selfless toil they go to meet their “friends”? Wouldn’t this be a gross violation on the privacy of models and starlets, private individuals who should not be made to reveal their schedules?
Irfan Pathan, who is among the 11 Indian cricketers selected on the basis of their ranking for Anti-Doping code by the ICC, said, “Our schedule is never decided in advance and we keep changing our plans every now and then. We keep travelling to different parts of the country and it is not possible always to plan months in advance. This clause infringes on our private life.” [Link]
Honestly how would a cricketer even know in advance which “friend” he would be having three months down the line or whether at a certain hour he would have body fluids to spare? Or for that matter whether he would be in South Africa shooting for a Coke ad or in Jamaica doing a Pepsi shoot?
Now some like Bindra, the ace Gold medal winning shooter, say that WADA understands the variability in people’s schedules and allows a player to dynamically update his location. Which makes the cricketers concerns unfounded.
“It’s a simple process,” said Bindra. “Once you have a login for yourself, you create your profile by entering in the mandatory location details: a mailing address, your residential address, your usual training address and a likely competition address, for the next three months.”
What the agency wants, said Bindra, is an hour’s slot each day, at any time of the athlete’s choice from 6 am to 11 pm, during which the athlete must be available at a location fixed by him or her, in case he/she is picked out for a random sample collection.
“I’m home most days from 7am to 8 am, so that time suits me perfectly,” Bindra said. “Anyway, you’re ready to pee when you get up in the morning and that’s all they would ask for.”
Entries made by the athlete are expected to stand for a quarter of the year, unless he/she changes plans, like Bindra did for today. “So I logged on, clicked on the box for August 4, 2009 on the calendar, disabled my usual testing slot, and entered the new evening one,” Bindra said.
Needless to say what Bindra doesnt understand that our cricketers are “special” with “special” needs and “special” friends and that its useless singing to them “WADA na tod, WADA na tod” when their “charti jawani tadse”…..[Video]
Another point to note. Unlike Bindra and Sania and Bhupati, the Indian cricketers are not “Westerners”.
“I don’t think it is possible to give such minute details about one’s whereabouts three months in advance. Our lifestyle is different from the westerners and players here have lot of commitments. What if a cricketer suddenly decides to go on a holiday with his family or if there is some emergency?” questioned former India player and coach Anshuman Gaekwad.
To those of you who are criticizing the Indian players and wondering why “doth they protest so much” I think you ought to know that even soccer players do not like this intrusion into their privacy and FIFA has apparently negotiated a sweet watering down of WADA’s rules. Something tells me this is what BCCI is pushing for our desi Yuvis and Dhonis.
And as we all agree they deserve their special treatment.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
First?
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WADA a way to go !!! So I ask BCCI – WADAya gonna do about it???
I think the WADA tracking clause is plain retarded and hard to justify. For a change I side with BCCI this time. I’m glad they have the balls to stand up and call stupid on a stupid law…
PS,
I would like to know why its a stupid law. For real “truly random” drug testing a player needs to be available 365 days a year. Just testing before a tournament defeats the whole purpose of “random”.
1 query, has any of the professional US bodies accepted the WADA ‘requests’, NFL, MLB, NBA and the likes? Considering the non-stop schedule, TV tamasha and professional money involved, cricket must be analogous to such bodies and not say hockey and athletics.
Anirudh,
The ATP tour is pretty much an all-year thing as far as I know. So shouldnt professional tennis players have the same problem?
I think drug tests can find drugs taken a week back also. So my ask one hour every day instead of one hour a week may be.
GB: “I would like to know why its a stupid law. For real “truly random” drug testing a player needs to be available 365 days a year. Just testing before a tournament defeats the whole purpose of “random”.”
Since psychedelics are illegal in all countries, I guess it will be okay if governments decide to introduce random testings of their citizens in order to fight drug menace? You would have no problem with cops barging into your home any time they want and testing you for pot-smoking? Is it normal to allow yourself to be treated as a potential criminal or as a drug-offender in the name of fighting drug problem?
Just because Bhupathi or Sania think that random testing is acceptable 365 days a year doesn’t make it right.
I can see umpteenth possibilities with arguments like ‘we have to do our bit to control so-and-so problem’ or ‘If you have nothing to hide, why should you mind?’
-Income tax officials can raid your house even if they have no reason to suspect you. (You don’t have cash stashed under your pillows, so you shouldn’t mind, right?)
-Cops can barge into your home to check if your computer is free of any copyrighted stuff or pirated software (Relex, by allowing us access to your computer, you are only doing your bit to help us fight piracy)
wowow…me in top 10..phli baar
GB: I agree with you about the ‘special needs’ of ‘special cricketers’, but just because they protest about it, doesn’t mean that the WADA whereabouts clause isn’t intrusive…cz it bloody well is. You are right about ATP schedule being almost year round…but it hasn’t gone down well with players, not because they don’t care about the usage of performance enhancing drugs, but because the whereabouts clause is pretty intrusive. But its pretty funny reading about Yuvraj goin on about how cricketers are different from other sports and how we Indians are different from ‘westerners’.
essbee: Agree with your thoughts, I mean, why should we stop with sports…why don’t we go down to the ‘aam aadmi’ n demand that they also be willing to be searched, stripped or whatever in the name of preserving ‘our way of life’. Cz, if we are really innocent we shouldn’t be scared and we ARE doing this to rid the world of whatever they want to get ridden.
Cheers,
Rahul
I would not say that the Indian cricketers concern about the WADA process is baseless. The clause regarding the advance intimation of whereabouts is particularly annoying. Because of this clause even an unintended mis-information may become a cause for action. The first time I learnt about such a ground for disqualification was when Michael Rasmussen was taken out of the Tour de France event of 2007 because some Cycling administrator found out that Rasmussen was actually present in Italy during a particular time frame when Rasmussen had claimed that he was training in Mexico. At the time of pull-out, Rasmussen had built up an almost unassailable lead over the ultimate winner Alberto Contador hence I was flummoxed by the decision of his team Rabobank. My point here is, whether a sportsperson is not right in keeping his training methods secret from his rivals or the paparazzi.
The Indians are used to a system of justice which propounds that an offender cannot be convicted until found guilty. But the WADA process is not in line with this principle. We have seen athletes being held guilty on the basis of mere conjectures or speculations. You might remember how the whole world was dumbfounded during the Athens Olympics of 2004 when the home sprint pair of Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou had to withdraw from the Games following their failure to attend a drug test. However, later on they were cleared of all charges as it was found that these 2 athletes were never informed to appear for the doping test. Now how would you react to this?
However I can not help but laugh at BCCI’s proposal for developing its own Anti-Dope System. Such a system may become a tool in the hand of the administrators to target some individual sportsperson. For example you would recall how Indian woman weightlifter and a medal hopeful Monika Devi was prevented from going to the Beijing Olympics just on the basis of some shady dope tests conducted by the Sports Authority of India. Compared to this, the WADA process is definitely better, any day.
One thing is noteworthy though, that since the introduction of WADA the number of athletes actually caught in the act of doping has actually gone down. These days we find more instances of sportsperson being condemned for missing or avoiding a drug test.
@Rahul: I mean, why should we stop with sports…why don’t we go down to the ‘aam aadmi’ n demand that they also be willing to be searched, stripped or whatever in the name of preserving ‘our way of life’.
Absolutely. Are professional players from a different planet? Don’t they deserve same rights that common citizens enjoy under our constitution? Why should every player have to undergo random testing because of misdeeds of few. The arguments about cricketers being special or different from others or about their security concerns are largely irrelevant.
Essentially all arguments in favor of cricketers signing the clause revolve around a central theme – all players from other sports have accepted the clause, so why should cricketers be spared?
Yeah right..the majority can never be wrong! mob is always right!
http://onionuttapam.com/sports/sports/opinion-are-our-cricketers-right-in-rejecting-wada-clause.html
I completely agree with GB. The privacy bit that cricketers are spouting is all nonsense! Read the article that GB refers to about Abhinav Bindra in the Indian express. There is no intrusion.
Plus this is a small price that cricketers have to pay like all other sportsmen to make sport dope free. One of the reasons behind this code is that WADA etc are all concerned that with the amount of sport being played, sportspersons are resorting to drugs to recuperate quicker than normal. Hence this code. Btw 365 days and 24/7 are not in the literal sense. You only have to inform them. They don’t test you everyday. Also I am sure their agents and marketing men know where they are so why not WADA?
Also, I am a little puzzled that one of the players invited for consultation was Harbhajan! I doubt he understood anything. Neither did anyone in the BCCI
I agree with this Western vs Indian argument. I have seen that in the West people do plan their schedules well in advance and maintain elaborate appointments. But in India we really truly do not know what we are going to do next and often plan things on the spur of the moment. WADA originated in Switzerland, the land of clock-work efficiency, and they do need to come up with an alternative model for the ‘impulsive’ Indians that we are and indeed our cricketers are. Sorry but I am with the cricketers on this one.
We all tolerate inconvenience to the extent that we have to. Just because construction workers have no problem in toiling under hot sun carrying heavy load, it doesn’t mean software engineers will accept similar working conditions too. Bhupathi’s and Bindra’s have no choice, since their sports are government funded and they aspire to take part in Olympics. Being an autonomous organization not involved with Olympics, BCCI and its players have no such compulsions and they are in the happy position of being able to say no to WADA and hence they will.
Revealing your whereabouts for three months in advance for every single day is a major inconvenience and I doubt even I will be able to do that, let alone the jet-setting, double/triple/multiple-dating cricketers (one flamboyant ex-cricketer was known to drop his girlfriend at her home in Delhi after a date, rush to the airport to catch a flight to Mumbai, spend some quality time with a starlet there and be back at his girlfriend’s place for breakfast next morning. Now, whose address is he going to give to WADA?). So, if they can get away without such inconvenience, why wouldn’t they?
WADA raha sanam, jo WADA kiya vo nibhana padega,
The best time they can give would be before a match or on a tour, coz that’s the only time they are certain about their schedule.
If you ask them to give a particular slot for 1 hour on a normal day its way too difficult.
If anyone wondered Greatbong was a Bong, the v in vatata instead of a b is a dead giveaway 🙂
Why blame the cricketers? We are to blame for making these guys think that they are superstars who are beyond the purview of law and the regulatory bodies.
We are responsible for a VIP culture where countless politicians and B-grade celebrities are given armed bodyguards at the taxpayers’ expense. We are responsible for tolerating these VIPs who can bypas any queue and for whom entire stretches of busy roads are shut so that their cavalcade can pass quickly. We are responsible for ensuring that these VIPs do not have to face the consequences of their actions regardless of whether they shoot endangered animals, keep illegal firearms or kill innocent pedestrians with their BMWs.
The cricketers are merely asking that we extend the same privileges to them as those we extend to our politicians and media celebrities. I think that we should turn around, bend over and unclench, like we do for all our other VIPs.
Wadda problem!!!
Maybe I’m getting this wrong, but shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the drug abuse watchdog to keep track of the sportsmen !
is cricket really that much affected by drugs?
although I think indian cricketers nowadays are primmadonna arrogant SOBs (for the most part) that still doesn’t mean they are not right – this whereabout clause IS pretty intrusive and is facing challenges in court about breaching EU privacy laws.
Our cricketers are such pathetic cry babies! i would like to know the nameso f the ones who have a problem!
So let’s say, an Indian cricketer wants to relax for a few days after a really terrible Tournament. He doesn’t have any commitments for a few months and is chillin’ around. He goes to clubs and parties and enjoys his hard-earned success. Let’s say, he and his friends want to smoke some pot. Maybe a joint or two,
What’s wrong with that ?
Whoever heard of Marijuana making you stronger and more athletic ?
hmm…not able to come to decisive conclusion on whose end of argument is right.
From whatever is being floated around, it looks like its not just the whereabouts clause that the players have a problem with… they actually have a problem with being tested in the off season – time which is totally theirs’, hence no intrusion of any kind. If that is the case, then they should stop calling cricket a sport… If off-season testing is what it takes to cleanse the sport of doping of any kind, then so be it; else quit the sport, sit at home and let somebody else take your place.
Good one Vipul!
And imagine if our corporate employers wanted to impose WADA on us! How would we feel about that?
……“It’s a simple process,” said Bindra. “Once you have a login for yourself, you create your profile by entering in the mandatory location details: a mailing address, your residential address, your usual training address and a likely competition address, for the next three months.”
???????Simple process?????? D-Duh, sounds very complicated to me. And I didn’t even read the bit about how to CHANGE a pre-set schedule.
Dear fans, don’t you see that this is the main problem for us. With the collective IQ of 40 how in the world do you think we can do all this login-shogin thingy? Unless we hire – who else – FAKEIPLPLAYER for this purpose!
Jeeo – Yuvi
First to Read
all the above others just passed by!
Hey GB,
What about a repartee to all these arguments against your POV? For once there is a lively debate going on with the other side (not subscribing to your POV) having a strong argument.
How abt having to disclose such info only before 6-12 months of World Cup…
@Esbee and Rahul,
IT officials can actually come and raid our premises any time they want. So can the cops if they get a warrant i.e. if a third person thinks the cops have a cause to search my house. They are not obligated to respect our privacy or ask for our permission.
In the case of top sportsmen WADA defines a certain set as “high risk” (not that they are accusing them of anything) and want to keep them under continuous watch. In other words, an authority (WADA) has in essence issued a pre-emptive warrant against them. This might seem draconian but this is the only way to weed out the problem of doping in sport.
Performance-enhancing drugs, because of the strict testing that athletes go through, are typically no longer administered before events as “boosts” but are integrated into an athelete’s training program year-round. In order to prevent that from happening, the *only* foolproof preventive strategy is to have total at-random testing 365 days/year. There is no way around it. Everything else is a compromise and a deviation from a strict “zero tolerance” regimen.
There are people engaged in many professions who accept restrictions on their freedoms based on the nature of their jobs. For instance, in many jobs when you go on leave you have to notify your supervisor of your contact number in case the company needs you. And God forgive an emergency happen and you cannot be found at the number you gave, you will have hell to pay once you get back.
Servicemen are often contacted and called back to duty even while they are on earned leave. They dont turn around and say “Look. We refuse to be contacted when we are on leave. We refuse to tell you where we will be because it will be an intrusion into our privacy and more importantly it allows us to be called up, at a time when we are supposed to be with our families, a time which I own and not the government”. If they did, I wonder how many people here would be lining up in their support.
There are two problems with this argument. Anti-drug regimens are not about preserving a “way of life”. It is not a moral issue. It is a means for preventing athletes from gaining an unfair advantage. Second the problem with the “aam aadmi” would be that he wouldnt have any ability to opt out of intrusions that he objects to. The cricketers have an option. Stop playing if they feel that they do not want to compromise their “family life” (whether notifying WADA through a web-interface actually compromises their family life is a totally different thing).
@Tapaswini: Through the application of criminal law, many innocent people have been convicted and punished. So by your logic people can object to being put under the purvey of criminal law based on that ?(it’s another thing that no one really cares if they object or not) Just because there have been isolated cases of people being banned by WADA when they should not have been does not weaken WADA’s laws or allow people to have a choice regarding whether or not to comply with them.
@Skeptic:
Honestly. Can we not have these Manoj Kumar style generalizations about West and East? Sorry to have rain on your party but I have seen many impulsive Westerners and many Easterners maintaining elaborate schedules (my father being a case in point) and encountered at least one Swiss who was as different from the “clock work” efficiency stereotype as possible.
@Vipul, WADA, as I understand, isnt looking for marijuana but for performance-enhancing drugs. Incidentally, at companies that have strict “drug free” rules, any employee may be asked to take a test and risk getting fired if banned substances are found in his body fluids. Saying “Dude what I had in my off-time isnt really your problem. As long as my work was not affected and as long as I wasnt smoking during office hours, you really cant fire me.” is not going to help.
In conclusion, there are several professions that impose restrictions on our personal freedoms. People have two choices—either grudgingly follow the rules or quit the profession. In the case of cricketers, who are spoilt by an adoring public and know they can essentially bully their way out of anything, there is a third option. The one they are taking.
The behavior of other sportsmen under similar situations is an issue. It defines “accepted practice”. For instance cricketers in all other countries have accepted the WADA clause. Perhaps they dont like it also but they know that unlike their Indian counterparts they cannot get away by behaving like spoilt brats and that they know that their boards wont be mollycoddling them in the way BCCI does.
GB, it worries me that you brand cricketers spoilt brats ‘who know they can essentially bully their way’ – that is at best a simplistic way of looking things and at worst smacks of condescension. Whatever one thinks of their work ethic and arrogance, I don’t believe you can play at the highest level with a degree of success without being disciplined.
The way I see it, if I was in their place and I could do something about it, I would too (to avoid having to do extra work above and beyond call of ‘duty’). If FIFA can negotiate a sweet deal, why are cricketers prima donnas for trying to do the same? You said it yourself – if other athletes did not mind signing up, they either had no choice (perhaps despite reservations) or may be they really believe in the cause! That is their problem. Cricketers obviously cannot say in public what they really think, so they try to get wise and engage in some PR speak… hardly sacrilege.
PS: If a cricketer chooses to make moolah by cavorting with Kingfisher models in Trinidad or Barbados in his ‘precious’ private time, that is his decision, whether someone approves of it or not.
Btw, the Swiss clockwork efficiency and all that bull, blame Mukul Kesavan for that – obviously someone forgot to give credit where it was due 🙂
“IT officials can actually come and raid our premises any time they want. So can the cops if they get a warrant i.e. if a third person thinks the cops have a cause to search my house. They are not obligated to respect our privacy or ask for our permission.”
They can..but they don’t unless they have a strong reason to suspect you of tax evasion. And cops, as you say, need a warrant. With WADA’s ‘whereabouts’ clause its much more than just random testing. Players are required to maintain a three month journal of their whereabouts, which is an absurd requirement never demanded from anyone outside the field of professional sports.
Your comparison with some other professions doesn’t hold. Servicemen get their appointment letters only after signing the employment contract letter. If midway through their jobs, some external contract is forced on them, do you think their unions will not protest against it? Indian cricketers are not even full-time employees – either of BCCI or ICC. They are contracted by BCCI for every tour. As such, they have right to reject any extraneous clause imposed on them.
“The cricketers have an option. Stop playing if they feel that they do not want to compromise their “family life” ”
Everyone has an option. BCCI has an option to drop all the players that constitute the national team and select desperate newbies who will be willing to sign on the dotted line. ICC has an option to throw BCCI out of ICC. Similarly Indian cricketers have an option to not sign the whereabouts clause. Why should they voluntarily stop playing? The point about agreements and contracts is that they are voluntarily in nature. If they were not voluntary, they would be laws. So your comparison with criminal (in your reply to tejaswini) laws doesn’t hold.
“In conclusion, there are several professions that impose restrictions on our personal freedoms. People have two choices—either grudgingly follow the rules or quit the profession. In the case of cricketers, who are spoilt by an adoring public and know they can essentially bully their way out of anything, there is a third option. The one they are taking.”
What about bullying by WADA, ICC, sports minister MS Gill, other sports persons like Bhupathi, Sania or Bindra, by media etc to sign the clause? When you try to pressurize an unwilling person to sign an agreement he doesn’t want to, aren’t you bullying him too?
You choose to see the rebellion of cricketers as bullying, but the cricketers may see such infringement of their privacy as orwellion snooping. Whose view is correct? Would you agree to monitoring of your kids by your government through CCTV’S so that they do their homework, get up early, sleep on time and eat their vegetables? You may not, but apparently 20,000 families don’t mind big brother ( http://tiny.cc/cctv489 ) in their homes. Someday these CCTV’s may become a norm and those who refuse to let their kids be monitored by government will be branded as irresponsible parents!
You and everyone else is forgetting that players are the core constituents of any sport, not organizers like ICC or regulatory bodies like WADA who are essentially bureaucracies created for efficient organization of sports. In other words, if top cricketers of the world decide that the problem of performing-enhancing drugs in cricket is not serious enough to warrant being treated like criminals, that should be the end of the matter.
Has anyone thought of taking a poll of all international cricketers whether they think doping effects the game to such an extent that such harsh regulations are needed to end it? If a poll is taken, all of them would say they would prefer to live in an imperfect world rather than a doping-free strictly regulated world. If cricketers are willing to accept a little bit of unfairness in the game arising due to some players using performance-enhancing drugs, why right do bureaucratic organizations, governments or media have to demand that they should adhere to strict anti-doping regulations?
Besides, how is doping much of a problem in a game like cricket where unfairness is more of a norm than an exception – every time a captain wins toss and elects to bat first on a wicket that is not expected to last 5 days, his team is getting an unfair advantage over the other team. Cricket is a game where an Irfan Pathan willingly trades pace for accuracy, while a Shoaib Akhtar (on steroids) gets slammed by batsmen because his extra pace actually aids them in hitting boundaries.
@gb: “For instance cricketers in all other countries have accepted the WADA clause. Perhaps they dont like it also but they know that unlike their Indian counterparts they cannot get away by behaving like spoilt brats and that they know that their boards wont be mollycoddling them in the way BCCI does.”
Their boards cannot mollycoddle them even if they want to, because they are dependent on funding from their respective governments. http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/story/417949.html
If BCCI were similarly dependent on the government, they too would have had to toe MS Gill’s diktat and sign WADA. Thankfully, they are not.
But there is a way out for the overseas cricketers too. They can always retire from international cricket and just play IPL and then they can won’t have to suffer those WADA restrictions.
But, “bullying”? “spoilt brats”? Isn’t that a bit strong, when all that the cricketers are doing is to exercise their right to protest a ruling that affects their personal lives? As essbee said above, others have an option too. BCCI can drop those protesting players or ICC can throw BCCI out. If it comes down to “either sign or quit the profession”, then the cricketers will decide their next course of action. Maybe they will sign then. But it hasn’t come to that yet and it is natural they will try their best to minimise any intrusion into their privacy. How is that bullying or behaving like spoilt brats?
Wonder what Shane Warne’s Mom would react to all this?
Better opening song…
“What a the WADA! What a the WADA!”
Let me take stock of the situation.
‘Using performance enhancing drugs gives unfair advantage to some over others’
– We both agree, but Essbee does not.
‘The problem of doping needs to be weeded out’
– You recommend WADA, I concur.
‘Random Testing round the year is the best method to address this problem’
– You strongly advocate for it. I also agree since I don’t see any better alternative.
‘Disclosure of whereabouts is quite intrusive‘
– You do not deny it, but say that it’s only a small price to pay for remaining in the business. I tend to agree with you. But if I place myself in the position of any sportsperson then I have serious doubts about its practicalities. Here I am not thinking as a cricketer, but as a sportsperson from the less glamorous ilk who does not know where his next meal would come from. They do not enjoy a stable life and have to face a lot of uncertainties to eke out a living. Please don’t compare them with Abhinav Bindra. He comes from an affluent family much like the Rajas and Nawabs who used to play cricket during the British Raj. I know that the WADA code is not applicable to all but only to the top few of the respective discipline of sports. But I am not very sure whether our archers, boxers, wrestlers, weightlifters or even hockey players – who can compete with the best (when allowed) do come within the purview of the WADA scheme or not.
‘The Indian cricketers’ refusal to accept the WADA code as it exists now’
– You say they are behaving like spoilt brats and that they are mollycoddling with the Board to have their say. I would not say so. It’s rather like reviewing one’s inventories and logistics before embarking on a mission. It’s more like sizing up the opposite party before starting negotiations. It is infinitely better to thrash out all the inconsistencies before signing the agreement rather than finding excuses for not observing the code thereafter. The monkey-gate incident was an act of bullying, but this one is not.
‘The cricketers have an option. Stop playing if they feel that they do not want to compromise their “family life.’
– But what about the sportspersons who have foregone higher education or other vocational skills which would have allowed them to search for an alternative employment. At this late stage of life, it is very insensitive to expect them to stop playing and search for a new job.
‘Just because there have been isolated cases of people being banned by WADA when they should not have been does not weaken WADA’s laws or allow people to have a choice regarding whether or not to comply with them’
– This is high-handedness of the extreme kind. All these sportsperson have to undergo a lot of toils and make a lot of sacrifices to come up to the top level and earn name and fame for themselves in this process. Just because of one instance of imprudence or indiscretion their name is sullied for life. Even if they are cleared of all charges of doping on a later date, they would remain branded as cheats for the entire life. They need to be handled compassionately. Hence provisions must be built in the WADA laws to segregate the naïve defaulters from the genuine cheats.
Thanks for opening my eyes – GreatBong. Good one as always!
(Video) Woman fan tries to kiss Irfan Pathan in Eden Gardens
http://cricket.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-woman-fan-tries-to-kiss-irfan-pathan.htm
@GB,
What would you do if you had female fans throwing themselves at you? 😉
Tweeted about this. As to what I would do in such a case Bengal Voice, possibly pinch myself, wake up and have a cold bath.
GB,
Your sense of humor is fantastic ! I hope you are not a somniloquist. 😉
Some more hilarious updates on this IrFAN episode… The junk characters used before Shivangi’s name makes one wonder if this crazy fan cussed at her rival suitor during this interview….hehe.
http://www.hotklix.com/content/sports/cricket/Woman-fan-tries-to-kiss-Irfan
• “I won’t forgive Irfan”: Shabina
• Shabina Khatoon will not wash her right wrist for a while. That’s where Baroda bomber Irfan Pathan held her while trying to ward off her kiss.
• Shabina Khatoon speaks about how she will hold her head high because she did not commit a crime.
• Q: But he quite literally pushed you away.
A: Yes, I know. I was there, remember. He behaved as though I was committing a crime. I’m sad he responded in that manner. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. He should not have pushed me away.
• Q: And you still like him?
A: No! I don’t. He has hurt my feelings and I won’t forgive him.
• My friends aren’t particularly surprised because they know I’m a huge Irfan fan. Actually, change that to, was.
• Q: Any other celebrities you want to ‘meet and greet’?
A: I have a huge crush on India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but I simply adore Shah Rukh Khan. I think if Dhoni or SRK were in Irfan’s place at the function, I would have made sure they let me kiss them on the cheek. I don’t think they would have had a problem either. I guess Irfan has a problem because he got engaged only recently. So he may have been thinking about his fiancée Shivangi [Dev]. I really hope I get to meet Shah Rukh. I have travelled to Mumbai a few times, but never got to meet him. I wish I could.
Why should an international organization change its rules because our cricketers feel earning money through endorsements is more important than clean the tarnished image of sports.
Yes! There is doping in cricket. And Dope test before the tournament does not solve the problem because in most cases, the trace of performance enhancing can not be found after a certain period though its strengthening effect does stay.
If you want to read more – http://www.indiasportsradio.com/?p=57
And security is not an issue. The information that is given is not shared and only certain high level people have access to that information.
FIFA and UEFA, the two most powerful soccer organisations have rejected the World Anti-Doping Agency’s out-of-competition drug testing rule on Tuesday and asked for changes.
http://sports.in.msn.com/football/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3157668
WAD A Change of Heart :-))
KOLKATA: The strong stand taken by the BCCI against Wada’s contentious ‘whereabouts’ clause has found a groundswell of support, with the cricket
boards of six other Test-playing nations, including Cricket Australia, indicating to the ICC that they see merit in the concerns raised by Indian administrators.
The change of heart on the part of Cricket Australia, which itself is Wada-compliant, appears to have stirred other boards as well, with the likes of England (ECB), South Africa (CSA), New Zealand (NZC), Sri Lanka (SLC), Zimbabwe (ZC) and Bangladesh (BCB) also joining the chorus and asking ICC to “rethink Wada’s ‘whereabouts’ clause methodically”.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4979581.cms