New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday launched India's National Anti-Doping Agency's (NADA) first mobile app. The app aims to create a bridge between athletes and the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) by providing easily-accessible information on various aspects of the sport, and most importantly about prohibited substances, the inadvertent use of which may lead to the athletes' career being hampered.
"I congratulate NADA on this initiative," said Rijiju. "It is a very important step for Indian sport because we are working towards clean sports and the first step in that direction is to create awareness and provide relevant, accessible information to athletes so that they know which medication or substances are not to be used by them.
"With this app, athletes can check for themselves the list of prohibited substances and don't have to depend on anyone else for assistance. I am also happy that we have taken yet another step to fulfil our Honourable Prime Minister's dream of a digital India."
The app also has exhaustive information about whether a specific commonly-prescribed medicine contains any substance that is prohibited by NADA, therefore helping athletes and coaches to decide medicines that athletes can consume in case they are unwell.
To ensure a smoother, quicker process of dope test for athletes, the app allows doping control officer to record their availability to conduct a test through this app.
The launch was attended by Sports Secretary Ravi Mital and Director General of NADA Navin Agarwal.
In August 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended the accreditation of the country's National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) until February 21 2020. "This suspension has been imposed due to non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories as identified during a WADA site visit," WADA had said.
