‘India takes on WADA in latest power trip’

The Age (Australia)

Now that India is a growing superpower in world cricket, it is “acting in the same objectionable way as its former oppressors”, says The Age. The Indian cricket board, by backing its players who disagreed with the ‘whereabouts system’ set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is flaunting its power, says Grag Baum. “Indian cricket is threatening to take its bat and ball and go home...The rest of the cricket world is so in thrall to India that no one dares to say what needs to be said.” Cricket cannot have its own laws, says Baum. “...cricket is pressing its case for inclusion in the Olympic Games, but will be laughed out of Lausanne if India remains a drugs renegade. It is one thing for cricket to be eccentric, another for it to be an outlaw.” Vigilance has worked in sports like cycling, and the paper cites this year’s Tour de France as a case in point: “Cycling once was rife with drug cheats, and ludicrous for it, but this year’s Tour de France passed with blessedly minimal scandal. The cheats were either a long way ahead, or a long way behind.”

‘FA and UK Sport fail to agree over doping code’

The Guardian (Britain)

Britain’s biggest sporting authority, UK Sport, wants only top footballers on the doping checklist, but the football federation (FA) wants a wider pool and that argument has ensured that the introduction of anti-doping rules is still some way away, writes Matt Scott. The FA, though, is more concerned about the liability of possible litigation. The “‘whereabouts’ element of the WADA code... (is) the subject of a legal challenge from athlete organisations in Belgium and the FA wants assurances over a shared liability. It wants to know it would not have to foot the bill alone if its enforcement of the WADA code is challenged through the courts.”

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