Doping: Instructor Recommends Early Camping

An International Tennis Registry (ITR) Instructor, Abel Ubeibi, has said that early camping of athletes, especially for international competitions, will facilitate early detection of athletes using banned substance.

Ubeibi told newsmen that early camping usually give the medical committee time to ascertain the true health status of players.

“Early camping of athletes, especially for international competitions, is very important, because it will give the authorities the opportunity to monitor the players.

“Some of the athletes might have unconsciously taken banned substances, but when they are under the guidance of health experts in a camp, this can easily be detected.

“Early camping also affords the medical committee the opportunity to determine the health condition of athletes and to make sure that they are fit for the competition,” Ubeibi said.

He said that it was common knowledge that international sporting organisations usually carry out random doping test for athletes before any international competitions.

Ubeibi, therefore, urged the national federations to first tidy things up at home before allowing their athletes to go for any international competitions in order to avoid international embarrassment.

He advised athletes representing the country in international competitions to be good ambassador and to avoid anything that could tarnish the image of the country.

The instructor urged coaches to foster good relationship with their players for proper execution of their training programme.