New Delhi: NADA organises national conference on "Paving the Path for Clean Sport"

Anurag Thakur, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports along with Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary (Sports), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO, FSSAI, Kazuhiro Hayashi, Director, Asia/Oceania regional office, WADA, Sandip Pradhan, DG, Sports Authority of India and Ritu Sain, DG & CEO, NADA attended the inaugural session.

Anurag Thakur, in his keynote address, said, "It is the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to increase awareness about risks associated with use of nutritional supplements. However, ultimately the athlete is responsible for what they consume and will have to face the consequences of any anti-doping rule violation."

He further added, "The recent MoUs with FSSAI, NIPER Hyderabad and NFSU will build testing capacity of nutritional supplements in the country and promote research and capacity building in the field."

Anurag Thakur also launched the 'Know Your Medicine' web and mobile application during the inaugural session of the conference. The application will enable the sports ecosystem to check if any prohibited substance is present in medicines and make informed choices about use of medicines.

The application is available in Android and mobile app versions in Hindi and English and is equipped with user-friendly features including search by image and text options and search by medicine and ingredient options. The application has been developed by NADA and with this India has joined a few select nations in the world that provide such a tool to its athletes and sports ecosystem.

Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary (Sports), in her address, said, "One area in sports domain where we need to pay a lot of attention is anti-doping. In recent times, we have made tremendous progress in ensuring that the area of anti-doping becomes as strong as it should be for a country that aspires to be a global leader in sports."

She also highlighted that due to lack of awareness on the topic, especially in rural areas, athletes end up consuming supplements that they should not. NADA India is working towards bridging this awareness gap through extensive education and awareness programs on risks associated with use of nutritional supplements, she added.

G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO of FSSAI talked about the current regulations and guidelines of FSSAI to promote good manufacturing practices by the Food Business Operators of the country. He also emphasized the importance of the recent notification published by FSSAI which clearly earmarks the Food for Special Dietary Use (FSDU) logo to be used by manufacturers so that sportspersons may identify this logo in the bottle/ container.

Kazuhiro Hayashi, Director, Asia/Oceania Regional Office, WADA was present virtually and highlighted that the initiative around increasing awareness of risks associated with the use of nutritional supplements is commendable.

Ritu Sain, DG & CEO, NADA India welcomed the dignitaries on the dais, esteemed speakers, guests, participants in the room and those that joined virtually and members from the international anti-doping community.

She highlighted "Today's conference is a milestone towards initiating an important dialogue amongst all stakeholders in the sports ecosystem and work towards creating a clean sporting environment in India."

Prominent personalities in the field - Kalyan Chaubey, Joint Secretary, Indian Olympic Association and President, All India Football Federation, Deepa Malik, President, Paralympic Committee of India, Cdr. PK Garg, CEO of TOPS, Sports Authority of India, Adille Sumariwalla, President, Athletics Federation of India along with senior officials from FSSAI, NFSU and NIPER Hyderabad were present at the conference.

Six hundred plus participants, including officials from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, state sports departments, research institutes, national sports federations, NGOs, corporates, universities, athletes, support personnel and the international anti-doping community attended the conference in hybrid mode.

Eminent panellists addressed important topics including the physiological need for nutritional supplements in sports, athlete's perspectives on the use of nutritional supplements, the role of national sports federations in preventing the use of contaminated nutritional supplements, NADA's initiatives to increase awareness in the domain, FSSAI regulations on Food for Special Dietary Use for Sportspersons, current practices in manufacturing, use and testing of nutritional supplements and international practices in the field.

Alexis Cooper, Director, Education, Sports Integrity Australia and Amy Eichner, Special Advisor, Drugs and Supplements, United States Anti-Doping Agency participated as international speakers. (ANI)