Athletics Federation of India (AFI) chose Kerala athletes first to conduct doping as per AFI's new state doping rules. Muhammed Anees, an athlete from the state was the first one who came under the scanner of NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) officials for a dope test. Anees had created a record in the state meet for the long jump event.

A few days back AFI has announced that they are considering to introduce dope testing for all state championships and national school-level meets. This thing was first put into practice during two-day Kerala State Athletics Championship held on June 15 and 16. Athletics Federation of India secretary CK Valson confirmed that they have started testing athletes from Kozhikode. Kerala State Athletics Association secretary PI Babu also confirmed the presence of NADA officials at the meet.

Anees along with four other athletes were chosen first for conducting the test, who were tested during this two-day sports event. After the test, Anees addressed the press where he stated that his last test was done in the year 2013. He also added that NADA should regularly attend these meet and catch cheaters as at this level there are athletes who cheat.

Initial there were problems in collecting the sample as the kit arrived only by Saturday afternoon. There was also a communication barrier as the NADA officer from New Delhi faced problem in interacting with KSAA officials. But once everything was set up, operations went smoothly.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2019 12:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).