PUTRAJAYA: The Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) conducted dope tests on only about 10% of the 288 athletes who went to Incheon for the Asian Games.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said samples were taken from a total of 30 athletes from “high-risk” sports like weightlifting, rugby, shooting, hockey and athletics.
Wushu, whose exponent Tai Cheau Xuen tested positive for a banned substance, was not on the screening list. She has since been ordered to return her Asian Games gold medal, although Malaysia are appealing against the findings.
“No country in the world will conduct a 100% screening on the entire contingent prior to a Games,” said Khairy.
“It’s the same with us as we perform random screenings on certain high-risk sports based on their history ... such as weightlifting, rugby, shooting, hockey and athletics.
“Wushu has never been considered a high-risk sport.
“I believe we have taken all precautionary measures as far as our SOP (standard operating procedure) is concerned.
“Besides the screenings, Adamas have organised programmes to educate athletes on the dangers of illegal drugs.
“There were also doping talks held during the five-day centralised training camp. So, all the athletes should have been fully aware of the dangers ... there should be no excuses.”
Meanwhile Dr Rashid Puji, the Malaysian contingent medical officer, said the athletes were told of the danger of drugs during the national camp for the Asiad athletes in Putrajaya from Sept 8-11.
“All the athletes declared themselves drugs free when we handed out questionnaires to them when they attended the national camp,” said Dr Rashid.
On why not all the 276 Asian Games-bound athletes were tested for drugs, Dr Rashid said: “It’s too expensive to conduct doping tests ... so we expect the athletes to be honest and responsible.”
Following the closure of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Doping Centre in 2010, Malaysia send all their athletes’ urine samples to a laboratory in New Delhi, India, to test for prohibited drugs. It costs about US$200 (RM654) per test.
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