Ukrainian hostage to doping

Ukrainian coach not allowed to leave India due to doping scandal

The Ukrainian coach of the Indian athletics team, Yuri Ogorodnik, who is at the center of the doping scandal, should remain in the country until the end of the investigation, said the director of the National Institute of Sports in Patiala (Punjab) L.S. Ranawat.

As Gazeta.Ru previously wrote , last week a doping test showed the presence of prohibited drugs in the tests of eight leading Indian track and field athletes. The gardener, who worked in India for more than two years, trained six athletes in whose blood anabolic steroids were found. All six are 400m runners. These include double Asian Games winner Ashwini Akkunji (pictured ) and her relay partners Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose, who won gold in the 4x400m at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games and the Guangzhou Asian Games last year .

“He has been ordered to remain in India until the investigation is completed,” Ranawat said.

In turn, the 74-year-old coach told RIA Novosti about his innocence and is ready to continue preparing the national team for the Olympic Games if the Indian sports authorities allow it: “I am not guilty of anything. Over the 12 years of working in India, my athletes have never had any problems, I have not made a single mistake. I didn’t give my girls anabolic steroids, because we have a check every month, and I’m not an idiot. They received only sports supplements, which I carefully check for the presence of prohibited substances before giving them. They also couldn’t accept anything without my knowledge - I completely trust them.”

According to the specialist, the diet at the Institute of Sports does not allow athletes to do without sports nutritional supplements, which are purchased privately, since no one receives supplements centrally. “I put my heart and soul into these girls. I’m 74 years old, but I came to try to get them an Olympic medal,” said Ogorodnik, who has a contract to work with the national team until October 2012.

Sports Minister Ajay Maken on Tuesday recommended an investigation into the circumstances under which Olympic medal hopefuls were threatened with disqualification and the dismissal of Kharkiv coach Ogorodnik. Currently, the Sports Authority of India and the Sports Ministry have not decided on what sanctions to impose on the athletes.

Ogorodnik, who coached the USSR hurdling team during Soviet times, awaits his fate in Patiala. The coach cannot leave India as his passport is kept at the Athletics Federation of India headquarters in New Delhi.

Ukrainian hostage to doping - Gazeta.Ru