Anti-doping officials not happy with ICC facilities

The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) officials have criticised the ICC for not making proper arrangements for the officials to carry out random drug tests on players during the Champions Trophy. Yousef Hasan and Badar Al Saeed, the two officials representing the WADA, said that the ICC had received a list of requirements from the WADA about the facilities that they required, but the ones that it provided were not up to standard.

The officials were dissatisfied with the arrangements that the ICC had made with regard to the venue of the drug tests. "According to the rules, it should be a secure place with guards," Hasan told Times Now, a 24-hour news channel. "It should have refrigerators with water and soft drinks to help the player be comfortable to provide the urine sample which we need to collect. In this place, we had to share space with the medical staff and we did not have a secure place. We had to wait till everybody left, so we could lock the place and ensure that no one went inside.

"These are important things. We need the athlete to be comfortable and we need the place to be secure so that no one can enter or leave except for us. We asked for guards, but we did not get them. We requested walky-talkies so we could communicate with the chaperones who were with the players, but they too were not provided to us. So we will put all these things in the report and submit it with WADA. And as per the rules, if any organising committee cannot enforce anti-doping control, it [WADA] might stop them from conducting future tests."

Random testing was done on a trial basis during the World Cup 2003 but this is the first time that the tests are being conducted on an official level. Testing is restricted to two players from each team playing the match though there is no restriction on the number of matches during which samples can be taken.

Another problem, the officials said, was that the ICC had not issued ID cards to players. Saeed found this out when he asked a Pakistan player for ID who replied that he didn't have any. "On talking to the Pakistan team manager, we were told that the ICC did not provide players with ID cards," said Saeed. "How can we tell who is who without ID? This was the first, and hopefully the last time that we have come across a player without ID. And it is not the player's fault because nothing had been received from the ICC."

"We have been on many doping control testing missions with lots of federations," said Hasan. "We've been dealing with them professionally and they've been dealing back very professionally as well. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about ICC."

In response, the ICC today reaffirmed its commitment to the WADA Code. "The current ICC Champions Trophy is our first tournament since we became signatories to the WADA Code and it has presented us with some challenging issues," Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, said. "These issues are logistical ones and are understandable given no infrastructure or culture of drug-testing exists currently in India, and when these issues have been raised with us we have worked hard to ensure they have been dealt with.

"I will meet with WADA officials today and also speak to WADA Director General David Howman to see if they have any additional concerns we may not be aware of. I would stress we do not believe any of the issues raised have affected the integrity of the testing process," he added. "We are proud that since we began testing in 2002 no player has tested positive for a banned substance at an ICC tournament and we are equally proud to have signed up to the WADA Code in July of this year.