NADA Test: Jadeja most tested Indian cricketer so far in 2023, 58 samples collected in first 5 month
New Delhi, Aug 9: Star India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja gave dope samples thrice between January and May this year, making him the most tested cricketer during this period, according to data released by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
Altogether 55 cricketers (male and female, 58 samples) underwent dope testing in the first five months of this year, with more than half of the samples taken 'Out Of Competition' (OOC), according to a recent list put up by the NADA on its website.
This meant that the number of samples collected from cricketers this year is expected to be much more than the previous two years. According to the data, the NADA had collected 54 and 60 samples respectively from the cricketers in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
India captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli were not tested during the first five months of 2023.
Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the India T20 International side for some time, underwent one test -- 'Out Of Competition' (OOC) urine sample in April.
In 2021 and 2022, Rohit was the most tested cricketer with three samples each, according to NADA data of the two years.
Kohli was not tested in 2021 and 2022 also. Around 20 samples in 2022 were from women cricketers.
But, in the first five months of this year, only two women cricketers -- India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana -- were tested once each -- out-of-competition urine samples collected in Mumbai on January 12.
Around 20 samples were taken in competition, most of them likely during the Indian Premier League.
There were seven blood samples out of the 58, all the remaining being urine.
All of Jadeja's three samples were of urine, and taken out of competition on February 19, March 26 and April 26.
Thangarasu Natarajan underwent two tests, one urine and one blood -- both on April 27.
Blood testing allows detection of additional substances that in some cases may not be able to be found in urine.
Additionally, blood samples allow the use of longitudinal data collection, often called the athlete biological passport.
Longitudinal data collection monitors certain bio markers over time to detect the use of performance-enhancing substances and/or methods.
Other prominent Indian cricketers who underwent dope tests from January to May this year include Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ambati Rayudu, Piyush Chawla and Manish Pandey.
Some of the star players from abroad who underwent dope tests were David Wiese, David Miller, Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, David Warner, Rashid Khan, David Willey, Trent Boult, Marcus Stoinis, Mark Wood, Adam Zampa, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Jofra Archer.
All the tests on foreign players were conducted in April (during IPL season), most of them urine samples but a few provided blood samples also.
Prominent players from other sports who underwent dope tests during these five months include Olympic medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, hockey players Harmanpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh and Savita Punia, among others.
The overall NADA list runs into more than 60 pages and the number of samples could be more than 1500.
Bajrang and Vinesh, who led a sit-in protest earlier this year, alleging sexual harassment of some female grapplers by outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, gave two urine samples -- on February 20 and March 19 -- and one blood sample on March 19, all of them out of competitions and in Sonipat.
Lovlina gave urine and blood samples on two occasions -- March 19 and May 7, all out of competition.
Track and athletes were tested the most with around 500 samples, followed by weightlifting (around 200), boxing (more than 100), shooting and wrestling (more than 70 each), and football and hockey (more than 50 each).
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Our relationship with both India and Pakistan is 'good': US
New York/Washington (PTI): America’s relationship with both India and Pakistan is “good”, the US State Department has said, asserting that the diplomats are "committed to both nations".
Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US working with both nations is good news for the region and the world, and will promote a beneficial future.
“I would say that our relationship with both nations is as it has been, which is good. And that is the benefit of having a President who knows everyone, talks to everyone, and that is how we can bring differences together in this case. So it's clear that the diplomats here are committed to both nations,” Bruce said.
She was responding to a question on the possibility of increased US assistance to Islamabad in terms of arms sales following Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s meeting with Trump, and whether this was coming at the cost of Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the May conflict between India and Pakistan, Bruce added, “Obviously, we had an experience with Pakistan and India when there was a conflict, one that could have developed into something quite horrible.”
She said that there was "immediate concern and immediate movement" with Vice President J D Vance, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in “addressing the nature of what was happening….we described the nature of the phone calls, the work that we did to stop the attacks and to then bring the parties together so we could have something that was enduring."
She also claimed that top leaders in the US were involved in “stopping that potential catastrophe.”
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Bruce added that the recent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan “follows negotiated peace arrangements between Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo.”
Meanwhile, in an interview on Tuesday, Rubio said that “credit goes to” Trump for helping bring several conflicts around the world to an end.
Trump says he wants “to be the President of peace. And so any time we see a conflict where we think we can make a difference, we get involved, and we’ve had good success in that regard. India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, the peace deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia, just a few days ago,” he said in an interview with ‘Sid and Friends in the Morning’.
