Dope-tainted Paul puts team doctor in the dock

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 21

Veteran goalkeeper Subrata Paul, who had tested positive for a prohibited substance, Terbutaline, last month, has put the blame on the team doctor of the national team.

Paul has blamed the team doctor for administering him the cough syrup containing the banned substance, which resulted in the 30-year-old goalkeeper failing a dope test last month.

In his appeal to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), Paul has said that it was on the doctor’s advice that he consumed the cough syrup for a bronchial-related problem. Paul has pleaded that he wasn’t told by the doctor that the cough medication could contain a banned substance, Terbutaline.

Paul’s appeal to NADA is not a written submission by him. After Paul had failed to appear for his ‘B’ sample testing, he had been given three weeks by NADA to make a written submission — the time given to him expires on May 26. After he has filed his written submission, a NADA panel headed by a retired High Court judge would hear the case.

Cough syrup

Paul’s ‘A’ sample had returned positive for Terbutaline Beta-2 Agonist, which is a bronchodilator — a drug “that causes widening of the bronchi, and is useful in the alleviation of asthma”. It is widely prescribed for breathing problems.

However, athletes must apply for a TUE (therapeutic use exemption) certificate before using it.

According to NADA sources, though Paul accepted that he failed to obtain a TUE, he submitted that it was the responsibility of the doctor to ensure that the cough syrup he was prescribing didn’t contain a banned substance. “The team doctor must have known the ingredients of the cough syrup and I took the medicine in good faith,” Paul’s appeal says, as quoted to this correspondent by a NADA source.

Notice to doctor

The same source informed that NADA has taken cognisance of Paul’s appeal and has issued a notice to the doctor to appear before the panel.

Speaking with The Tribune, NADA Director General Navin Agarwal informed that if the doctor was found guilty, NADA would push for his lifetime suspension from all sporting activities. If this happens, it would be the first time in Indian sport that a support staff member would get banned by NADA.

“Paul is preparing his defence on the ground that the doctor prescribed him the medicine for cough and cold,” Agarwal said. “This raises a question mark on the doctor’s involvement. If NADA is able to establish connivance between Paul and the doctor, then both would be penalised. The doctor could get a lifetime ban, and that would be the first case of its kind. Obviously, it’s for Paul and the doctor to save their own skin. NADA’s job is to establish their connivance.”