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The All India Football Federation, in collaboration with NADA, organised a two-day workshop in Bellary and Bengaluru on November 23 and 24, 2019. All the age-group teams, as well as the senior team of Bengaluru FC, took their time out to attend the workshop, which was very “informative and interactive” as quoted by Udanta Singh.
“The session was informative and interactive and helped all of us. It is extremely important to have workshops like these for players as there is so much happening every day with regards to our intake. It’s vital for us as athletes to constantly educate ourselves,” midfielder Udanta Singh explained.
Dr. Shyam Kumar Adapa, Regional Coordinator, National Anti Doping Agency, India, invited the U-13 and U-15 teams on the first day of workshop in Bellary, whereas the U-18 side, the ‘B’ team and the senior team of Bengaluru FC attended on the next day in Bengaluru.
Dr. Adapa stressed that the primary objective of the workshop was to raise awareness amongst the athletes who represent the country internationally and to achieve a ‘dope-free’ sport.
“The main aim of this seminar is to achieve a dope-free sport. It was focused to bring awareness on recent updates of WADA code amongst the junior teams and the senior team as well,” Dr. Adapa stated.
Bengaluru FC defender Rahul Bheke believes that such “knowledge-sharing platforms” are of paramount importance to avoid any kind of glitch in a sportsperson’s career.
“In today’s day and age, what happens off the field is as important as what happens on it. So many promising careers have ended because of poor choices or lack of information, which is why it is necessary to have more such knowledge-sharing platforms. We’ve got to learn a lot more than we already knew before this session,” Bheke opined.
Dr. Adapa also reiterated that players realise the importance of such sessions and they were very quite receptive during the workshop.
“Players were very attentive in receiving the knowledge. They expressed the utmost passion for carving themselves as finest players and pledged for a dope-free sport as well. They realized the importance of dope-free sport, as one wrong move could end their career and defame them.”
Moreover, he stressed that one hour every month should be dedicated to this kind of workshop, which will, in turn, keep the athletes “updated with the latest knowledge on anti-doping”. NADA is looking forward to covering all sporting federations at least once a month.
“I would like to recommend one hour every month should be dedicated exclusively for anti-doping awareness so that the players will be updated with the latest knowledge on anti-doping. We will look to cover all the sporting federations at least once a month,” Dr. Adapa concluded.
