Doping scandal

Pakistan sports has been making headlines in recent weeks – but mostly for the wrong reasons. After the football fiasco which resulted in the suspension of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) last year, another sports body of the country is facing an international ban. There is a very real danger that the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PFF) could be banned after six of the country's leading weightlifters were suspended over doping recently. The tainted athletes include Talha Talib, whose Olympic heroics were celebrated in Pakistan last year. Talib narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal in the 2020 Games in Tokyo. He was seen as a favourite to win a medal for Pakistan at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and was also considered as a medal prospect for the 2024 Olympiad in Paris. But along with five other weightlifters, Talib's career is in jeopardy; the use of performance enhancing drugs is strictly prohibited and if such charges are proved, the guilty athlete is slapped with a lengthy ban.

Doping is a global issue which raises its ugly head at international sports competitions every now and then. But in Pakistan recent happenings suggest that the use of banned substances has become rampant among national athletes. Before the suspension of the weightlifters, seven kabaddi players had also tested positive for doping. It's an open secret that the country's sports authorities have done precious little to curb this menace. Now that sports in the country is facing a full-blown doping controversy the concerned authorities seem quite ill-prepared to handle it. Frankly, the situation hasn't worsened overnight. For years, there have been strong suspicions that a significant number of our athletes use anabolic steroids and other banned drugs, both deliberately and unknowingly. Many bodybuilders and even kabaddi players have lost their lives because of careless use of banned drugs.

It is time to work towards concrete measures to curb the use of banned drugs in our sports. This won't be an easy task considering that the relevant bodies lack both expertise and the sort of funding required to tackle this problem. The fact that many of our athletes aren't educated doesn't help the cause either. It is also believed that a vast majority of the guilty athletes take performance-enhancing drugs, despite being fully aware of the fact that if caught their careers could be finished. The concerned authorities should carry out a thorough post-mortem of the doping controversy. For far too long we have shied away from tackling this issue. The culprits should be punished appropriately so that younger athletes learn that doping is a complete no-go zone. More and more dope tests should be introduced at national-level competitions, with proper infrastructure to be put into place to carry out such tests. There should be zero tolerance for any offenders. Winning medals is important but not at the cost of the country's reputation.