New Delhi, Nov. 5: Sports and doping seem to go hand in glove these days. Tests might be getting tighter by the day but cheats still find ways to wriggle around them.

Cricket is probably the only sport that is relatively dope-free as compared to other Olympic disciplines but the International Cricket Council still doesn’t want to take any chances. The ICC adopted a new ‘Anti-doping Code’ at the start of the year and has already put in place an ‘Anti-doping Tribunal’ since March.

"Cricketers don’t really need to dope. We have hardly had any doping incidents coming to the ICC since the tribunal has been set up in March," Dr David McDonagh, a member of the anti-doping tribunal, told this newspaper on Thursday. "If you increase your bulk by doping, you automatically run the risk of tearing your tendons. Doping is never a long-term solution for cricketers," he added. McDonagh, a sports medicine specialist based in Norway, is in the capital to attend the ‘Sports Medcon’ from November 6 to 8. Also part of the International Bobsleigh Federation’s medical committee, McDonagh rues the lack of awareness amongst cricketers about doping.

"Testing is the unfortunate price we have to pay for doping. We have a responsibility to clean up the sport and this is where Wada comes in. There is a problem with the registration and whereabouts clause with the athletes and it is hard on them.

"But they have to follow certain things. It is surprising how little the cricketers around the world — not just in India — know about doping or the whereabouts clause for that matter," he said.

On substance abuse in sport, McDonagh said, "We will always be behind the dopers, can’t ever catch them all. I don’t think it would have been possible to catch Agassi in the 90s. In those times, the testing was only done at the Olympics and not in other events. The Wada influence happened much later, he was probably never tested.

"I believe there are two things — nature or nurture, you’re either born good or become good. Look at the Jamaican athletes they are born good, but they can’t become top runners unless they have the best training, best nutrition and the best of everything. It is a combination of all those things that makes a successful athlete," McDonagh added.

On Olympic and world champion sprinter Usain Bolt, he said, "I think he is a phenomenon and a freak of nature. There is no suspicion of anything with Bolt. He just has great genes. He has his height going for him — he is tall like Carl Lewis — takes time to get going and once he does, he’s always hard to stop."

McDonagh feels India has all the experts it needs in the field of sport sciences but they need to be utilised efficiently.

"India has some of the greatest doctors in the world, all the skills are there. There is just the question of using the skills well. Doctors don’t make world champions — athletes and trainers make world champions. But doctors need to be at the right place at the right time to give the athletes something extra."