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MUMBAI: World cricket’s plan to adopt the World Anti-Doping Agency agreement was thrown into doubt Sunday when India rejected a contentious clause.
India’s cricket board acted on the complaints of its players by rejecting a section of the WADA agreement that requires players to give their whereabouts three months in advance to allow random out-of-competition testing.
“It invades the players’ privacy which is their constitutional right and cannot be taken away,” Shashank Manohar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India said after a meeting in Mumbai on Sunday.
N. Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary said the players’ only objection was to the whereabouts clause.
“They don’t have a problem with being tested or the testing system but they cannot be followed when not playing cricket,” Srinivasan said. “The issue is of out of competition testing. Since it’s a matter of privacy and also about security the BCCI agrees with the players’ view.”
India’s rejection is a blow to the International Cricket Council (ICC), which had directed all affiliated national boards to get their players to sign the WADA form by Aug. 1. The ICC is a signatory to the WADA code, making it mandatory for all affiliates to comply with the anti-doping stipulations.
According to WADA rules, anyone missing three doping tests in 18 months faces bans stretching to two years.
The ICC was represented at the meeting by its lawyer Iain Higgins.
In a statement issued in Dubai, the ICC said, “what both parties are looking for is a practical and mutually acceptable solution to the current situation. The next step is for this matter to be considered further by the ICC Board to find a way forward.”
The WADA has faced a lot of flak for its whereabouts requirements clause and is expected to meet representatives from international sports bodies in London later this year.