25 Jan 2023
On Monday, January 23rd, 2023, some of Aspire Academy’s student-athletes and staff were given an introduction of what they can expect by representatives from the Qatar Anti-doping Commission (QADC). With anti-doping rules and procedures are becoming now an integral part of international sport, some of these lectures are of great importance to the academy student athletes and staff.
The session, which was attended by senior student-athletes and several coaches, outlined the various roles carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and how the QADC plays its part.
Monday’s session was the first of 2023, with more planned for the future to cover different sports and other aspects of anti-doping.
Among the areas covered by Dr Vyas Saseendran and Dr Hassan El Emam from QADC were how tests are carried out, the investigation of positive results, types of violations and possible consequences.
The Aspire student-athletes learnt that WADA’s list of prohibited substances is updated annually and applies to all countries as well as cross all sports. Another aspect of anti-doping that is common to all sports is the process of how tests are taken.
It was also pointed out that testing can happen at any time whether athletes are in competition or not. One of the key points QADC emphasised was that refusing a test can have the same consequences as failing one.
There was also a stark warning for the Aspire student-athletes about the use of food supplements in their diets with up to 50% of the ones commercially available are contaminated with prohibited substances.
While there was a lot of information for the student-athletes to comprehend the QADC urged them to make use of their website that has all the necessary information and forms in both English and Arabic.
The talk on Monday was part of the Academy Anti- Doping Education Program (AAEP)that was set up by the Aspire Academy Sports Medicine Centre’s (AASMC) to train athletes and staff. The project has been in place since 2020 when a memorandum of understanding was signed between Aspire Academy and QADC.
The visit was the first of several that have been planned by AASMC in collaboration with QADC as they continue to implement an education program on anti-doping awareness to Aspire Academy’s student-athletes and staff.