NDTL gets accreditation in January 2019 – Why a suspension?

Even as the Indian sports fraternity is grappling with the ban WADA has imposed on NDTL for six months, there are other aspects to it which could be equally perplexing.

As per the sequence of events, it came as a huge surprise how WADA banned NDTL after giving it the accreditation in January 2019. “It’s a little bit of a surprise,” said Kanthi D. Suresh on her weekly debate show “Talking Turkey with Kanthi” on Power Sportz.

The whole crisis unfurled with surprises, as revealed by the show. “The NDTL is capable and is accredited to test for the year January 2019 to December 2019,” Kanthi read out the accreditation certificate. There is indeed a whole element of surprise because the WADA team had visited NDTL in September in 2018 and found certain issues with the laboratory. Yet, they went ahead and gave the accreditation in January 2019. The WADA team that visited NDTL in September 2018 did not find the issues to be serious. Now, in August 2019, they have slapped a ban on NDTL for six months stating irreconcilable issues. It is complete mayhem how WADA has handled the whole issue, and NADA is in a fix how to test samples of approximately 5000 athletes, and with barely a year to the Olympics. 

The sequence of events from May when the WADA disciplinary committee initiated action to August 2019, when they slapped the ban, also seems a little ambiguous. Just when BCCI loses its battle to the Sports Ministry on Aug 9, 2019, we hear of the dope testing lab being suspended on Aug 20, 2019. Kanthi, on her show, has definitely got everyone’s thinking hat on to decipher what could be the real reason behind the NDTL suspension.

Click the link below to watch the discussion,
https://www.powersportz.tv/talking-turkey-1/pm-launches-fit-india-but-wada-suspends-indias-dope-testing-lab-6633