Cricket is played in only 8 countries out of about 200 countries. Even in countries like England, West Indies, SA it is not the No. 1 sports.
So Cricket is basically a LOW GRADE SPORTS when looked from International perspective.
So who are Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni , Yuvraj and Harbhajan ? So called Gods/Greats/Heroes of A LOW GRADE SPORTS. And they are questioning WADA !! I am a BIG FAN of Cricket, and this is the ONLY sport I follow. But it pains me when our Cricketers behave like this. Basically they are pampered by fans , including myself. But we should NOT LOOSE POINT OF VIEW FROM A BROADER PERSPECTIVE.
Re: Who are Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni , Yuvraj and Harbhajan ?
by ramakrishnan s on Aug 06, 2009 06:44 PM
U call cricket a `low grade sport' and yet u claim u r a big fan of cricket? Isn't it contradictory? Buddy, when u don't like all our stars who have done india proud, then what do u like about cricket? Don't make ur dislike so obvious and yet believe that u can fool the people!
From News reports it is emerging that basically Dhoni, Yuvraj , Harbhajan and Sachin are opposed to WADA .
My question is :
1. Why only Athletically strong players, namely, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Harbhajan are opposed. Are they guilty of taking some banned substances ? 2. And Why Sachin is opposed. It seems he is also taking some banned substance to heal his tennis elbow and groin and sustain tillWC 2011?
The Indian cricketers who are opposing the so-called 'Whereabouts Clause' have maintained that they travel a lot, that they get less than 3 months in a year to spend with their families & that they shouldn't be disturbed (or their privacy invaded) during that time. Now, I'm really curious what goes on in those 3 months! In this time & age, when medical support's readily available in almost all parts of the civilized world, what's so 'Private' that these pampered babies can't spare 20mins to be chauffeured to a local hospital & provide a test sample? Are these guys regularly visiting the deepest Congo or the South Pole & spending weeks on end there?
It seems that there's fundamental ignorance about how dope-testing works & why it's there in the first place. There's technology out there for someone using performance enhancing or recreational supplements to mask them from their bodily fluids if they had as little as a few weeks advance notice. 3 months is an eternity in this context. Infact, it's gotten so bad, that more time & resources are spent testing for masking agents than the supplements themselves these days.
Cricketers work & play in a rarefied professional & social environment that ordinary Indians can only fantasize about. So, I have no problem with them being held to a higher standard. It goes with the territory my friends.
Re: RE: WADA clause
by ramakrishnan s on Aug 06, 2009 08:50 AM
Boss, u talk of privacy being not so important. I am amazed. Many of us just switch off the mobile phones on sundays and holidays when we don't want to be disturbed. I have seen people or offce colleagues getting annoyed and rude when u call them up on holidays if their phones are not switched off. So u can't expect the cricketers to be on the beck and call of these dope testing agencies all around the year. As one guy quite rightly pointed out, a cricketer could be called for testing on his wedding day or when he is holidaying with his family. We can't start advicing others when we don't even like any intrusions in our privacy!
Re: Re: RE: WADA clause
by Shrikar D on Aug 07, 2009 02:41 AM
Privacy is everyone's right & it should never be infringed upon. To use your example, yes, I dislike getting work-related calls in the weekend or after-hours. So, invariably I let it go to voicemail, listen to it a little later & then determine if it needs to be acted upon immediately or if it could wait until Monday or next morning. If it's urgent, then I suck it up & do what's needed. This is not such an alien concept in today's fast moving world. Such behavior's practised everyday by anyone who considers him/herself a professional. Anyways, all that's besides the point.
It appears that there's a lot of misinformation out there. No one's talking about WADA agents bursting into one's home & dragging them out for tests in the middle of the night in front of their wives/girlfriends/kids. Statutes are usually in place around how much reasonable time (say, 24hrs) a player should be given to respond to a WADA test sample request. But, to get on a high horse & simply refuse to comply by WADA's testing requirements like what our beloved cricketers appear to be doing defies all logic. It just makes me wonder ever more what they're trying to hide.
They re right in not signing WADA..bcoz if world will know they are duping and even after performance enhancing drug they play like that its a real shame for them..
not a single cktr showed their anger against the clause. but once ind cktrs started raising the concern, initially others blamed our cktrs but then they also realised the gravity of the clause. the world body of cktrs' association now having sympathetic opinion on our cktrs' concern. although wada is doing it for the good of world sports, its behaving in a very autocratic manner. icc may frame their own rules for anti-doping just like they hv for the anti-corruption / fixing rules.
