Over 30 dope sample collection officers dot National Inter-State C'ships

A huge posse of more than 30 dope control officers (DCO) from the NADA have descended here for sample collection from the athletes taking part at the National Inter-State Championships, the final Olympics qualifying event, and they have been instructed to do target testing also.

Usually, dope samples of the medal winners are also collected at big events like the national championships, and the unprecedented number of DCOs present at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium is expected to lead to a large sample size.

The DCOs have mostly come from New Delhi where the National Anti-Doping Agency head office is located.

"I can't tell much, but we have a big team here because it's the most important domestic event of the year as it's the final Olympics qualifying event in athletics," one of the officers, who can't be named for obvious reasons, told PTI on Thursday.

"We are also doing target selection of athletes for collection of samples. That much I can tell."

Even athletes who finished third or bel