The Federation Cup in Ranchi next month will be the first major national athletics competition where the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will carry out SRY gene tests for women athletes.
The federation has also started collecting DNA data of Indian athletes for research and performance-related studies. AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said the SRY test is already in use for athletes likely to compete at the international level.
"It (SRY test) is an ongoing process. Already, it started last year for the athletes who we feel are going to be in international arena. It will just be a one-time test in a lifetime. Once these results are uploaded on World Athletics website, they will be destroyed. So there is absolute privacy," Sumariwalla said in a virtual press conference on Saturday.
On the Federation Cup, he added: "In the Federation Cup in Ranchi, since athletes will be all together, a lot of them will get tested for the SRY test. Because they will all be in one place, so it's very easy to go there and pick up, send somebody so that all of them can do that."
The SRY gene test was introduced in India last year after a directive from World Athletics. It was first applied to athletes competing in the World Championships in Tokyo. AFI had informed all state units to comply with the requirement in August.
On cost, Sumariwalla said: "This test (SRY tests) is a bit expensive, around Rs 8000 per test, and we've negotiated with an accredited laboratory of World Athletics. We have brought down the cost of per test to Rs 3500. The AFI will make direct payment to the lab identified by the Medical Commission of the AFI."
Alongside this, AFI has begun DNA profiling of athletes for research work and injury prevention. The decision was taken during the Annual General Meeting in Kohima on April 14-15.
"Today, there is absolutely no DNA testing data available on Indian athletes. Only data available is for Caucasian athletes. But Caucasians are very different from Indians. So if we are really looking at the future, then we have to get into R&D to see how we can prepare for the future. These tests will also be absolutely confidential. The important thing is at the moment we are collecting data to see how we can prevent injuries etc. It's not for talent identification. So we are first basically collecting data after which we will be able to sort of interpret data in a far better way for the training of our athletes," he said.
He added that the data may also help in recovery tracking and injury management. "So these data would help more towards training and prevention of injuries and also for research to make sure that you know if an injury happens, how fast is the injury recovering."
The federation said the process will begin with top athletes and expand later. "It's an ongoing process. We start with our top athletes and slowly build our database. Most athletes will start coming down and we start moving down."
Sumariwalla also said the system will help verify identity in athletics. "So that is why there is a single agency and we have taken certain steps to ensure that person is identified and somebody else is not giving a test. And again, the athletes are not to pay anything. The cost is being picked up by us."
On infrastructure, he made a detailed assessment of track quality in the country.
"I'm not going to name the tracks, but I can tell you 90% plus tracks in India are substandard material-wise, laying-wise, marking-wise. We had a meeting with World Athletics in Tokyo (last year during World Championships), they showed us some data, which was quite shocking," Sumariwalla said during a virtual press conference.
He explained the issue further: "The material used is substandard, the process is substandard, the granules used are substandard, the laying methodology is substandard. The thickness is substandard, instead of polyurethane, only rubber or tyre rubber is being used in some. We have seen tracks where they put rubber of tyres below and only put red paint on top. It's that bad. Now what will happen? That will get finished over a period of time. In a few months, it will be finished. Nobody will be able to run on it.
The AFI will now be more involved in certification of tracks, something it stayed away from earlier.
"They (World Athletics) were not happy with the quality that was being certified. So AFI will now help in certifying and ensuring that all standards of measurement and quality are met," said the former AFI president and currently World Athletics vice president.
"We are working out on how we are going to go about. What is happening is that a lot of people are fly-by-night. They're not even proper vendors. So we need to look at the quality of the vendors. We will probably come out with a list of vendors who are genuine vendors worldwide and whose substances are to be used. We actually conducted a course with foreign experts coming to India to make our officials understand how a track is to be measured, how a track is to be tested what needs to be done during the time when the laying happens. So we had some foreign experts who had come down to explain to us how that is to be done," he added.
He said AFI had earlier stayed away from certification. "We stayed away from this for a very long time, because the way the tracks have been awarded etc. is not something that we want to get into. We've never certified any track earlier. However, from now on we'll have to get involved because World Athletics has called us and said you need to get involved, we have no option."
On certified tracks, he said: "Substandard means quality is not good. It may be too soft, too hard. That doesn't make a difference to World Athletics. Except that in two years, a track which should last 10 years will be finished. And you have to relay it."
"You will not get good performance if you have rubber of tyres instead of polyurethane. The performance itself will be slower," Sumariwalla said when asked if World Athletics can scrap results produced on such tracks.
On sponsorship rules, AFI has put its recent directive on hold for further consultation.
"The AFI had a healthy discussion and we decided we will have a little more consultation on this. So we will keep this open for the next three months for further consultation. We have put it on hold for the next three months. However, we requested that since people have some doubts, we will have a larger consultation, so that everybody's doubts are put to rest."
On athlete contracts, he said: "AFI is not charging a single dime either to the athlete or to the sponsor. We are giving a service. The issue is there are contracts where there are no exit clauses. There are contracts which we have seen where the athlete is supposed to do 100 things and what money they will get paid. There are contracts if the athlete gets injured, the athlete gets thrown out. Do you know that there are 14 non-cricketing sports people who have been looked at by EOW (Economic Offence Wing) because the contracts fall under the gambit of gaming etc. There are serious issues."
"And if we don't protect our athletes who have no great education and everything is promised and then nothing is delivered, it's high time that somebody has to step in to protect our athletes. Secondly, even the sponsors themselves have complained.. So we have to protect all our stakeholders. But the most important is to protect my athletes. And that is my fiduciary duty to protect the athlete," he added.