New Delhi: Impersonation is a major concern for Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as it begins the one-time mandatory SRY (sex determining region on the Y chromosome) gene test, which has been made mandatory for women athletes by the world body.
AFI said on Saturday that it is taking all possible safeguards to ensure that nobody cheats and get through the test. It has tied up with a World Athletics-accredited laboratory to conduct the tests, and though they are costly, the federation will bear the expense.
“Impersonation is absolutely rampant. That is why there’s a single agency, and we’ve taken certain steps to ensure that the person being tested is identified and someone else is not giving the test, as has happened in the past. The athletes will not have to pay anything,” said AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla, who is also a World Athletics vice-president.
World Athletics last year introduced a compulsory SRY gene test for all athletes participating in the women’s category, which was implemented at the World Championships in Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee has made the SRY gene test mandatory for participation in the female category.
“Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the female category. Unless there is reason to believe that a negative reading is in error, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime test,” says the IOC policy.
Sumariwalla said the safeguard protocols put in place by the world body for the tests will be followed.
“This will be a one-time test. Once these results are uploaded on the World Athletics website, they will be destroyed, so that there is absolute privacy. This test is a bit expensive, and we’ve negotiated with a World Athletics-accredited laboratory. AFI will pay for the gene test, making direct payment to the lab identified by the AFI medical commission. Without the gene test, athletes (in the female category) will not be able to participate in any international competition,” said Sumariwalla, adding that each test will cost AFI ₹3,500 after negotiations.
While AFI conducted tests on the Indian women’s team selected for the Tokyo World Championships, the screening will now be carried out at national competitions. The test is conducted via a cheek swab or blood test, whichever is more convenient. The testing protocols will be overseen by AFI.
“Any event where you earn world athletics ranking points, participation will require testing,” Sumariwalla said.
This season, AFI has decided to implement the gene test at the National Senior Athletics Federation Cup in Ranchi, the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Meet in Bhubaneswar, the National Youth Athletics Championships in Ludhiana and the National Open Championships in Delhi.
DNA test
At the AFI AGM held in Kohima earlier in the week, it was decided to start DNA test of Indian athletes for research purpose.
“The House approved the proposal to introduce DNA testing of athletes for research toward preventing their injuries, etc. These tests will also be absolutely confidential. The findings of these DNA tests lead to a lot of data on muscle composition, body composition, etc. That would help more towards training and prevention of injuries. Today there is no such data available. The only data available is Caucasian data on DNA testing of athletes. But Caucasians are very different from Indians. Once we collect the data we will be able to interpret in a better way and utilise for training.”
