Cricketers Must Comply WADA

The Indian cricketers are behaving omnipotent. They defy the land of the land and arm twist their heroism off the ground. On field their performance may not be very good but they try to extract all the benefits. The latest fight is with the WADA.

The Times of India writes (4 August 2009)

The BCCI and ICC are at loggerheads yet again. This time it's over Indian cricketers refusing to abide by a clause in the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) code, which was implemented by ICC earlier this year. The provision in the WADA code that has sparked the controversy requires cricketers in the ICC's international testing pool to reveal before every quarter details of their location for an hour every day for the next three months to facilitate testing.
The 11 players, which include M S Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, have cited privacy and security concerns and have missed the July 31 deadline for filling up the 'whereabouts' information for the next quarter. On Sunday, BCCI decided to back the players.

Though there is some merit in the concerns of the Indian players, we can't see how an exception could be made for cricketers when 571 international sporting bodies have accepted the anti-doping rules. Despite doubts, cricketers from other countries have accepted the WADA code.
Tennis stars, such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have spoken out against the whereabouts clause, but have agreed to abide by it. Other Indian athletes, such as Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, athlete Anju Bobby George and former badminton star P Gopichand, have no problems with the clause.

The BCCI, by refusing to accept the WADA code, is for the umpteenth time being seen as arm-twisting the world cricket body. The argument made by a BCCI official that performance-enhancing drugs are of no use to cricketers doesn't wash. There have already been a few high-profile cases of cricketers using drugs. And it's quite likely that there are others who haven't been caught.

Instead of opting for a collision with ICC, the Indian cricket body should confer with other members of the ICC to chart a course of action. BCCI and ICC officials are expected to meet soon with some Indian cricketers likely to attend the meeting.
If the ICC decides to adopt a cricket-specific code, it would most likely scupper chances of cricket ever being a part of the Olympics or Asian Games. It would be far better to accept the WADA norms for now and then work with other sports bodies to iron out glitches. Football's governing body, FIFA, also has problems with the whereabouts clause.
There is a meeting of world player associations, including the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), in London early September with WADA to discuss concerns about the whereabouts requirements for those who participate in team sports.
Indian players are not part of FICA, but they should make their voices heard at the meeting. Indian cricketers and BCCI must keep in mind that doping is something that has to be combated, for the sake of the future of the game, even if it entails some inconvenience.