Vijender backs dope-tainted athletes

Mumbai: Olympic bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh on Wednesday threw his weight behind the eight Indian athletes who recently tested positive for taking banned substances in one of the worst doping scandals that hit the country.

Insisting that doping might not have been deliberately done by the athletes, Vijender said, "It happens by mistake.

It is wrong and should not happen in sports. But I'm with the athletes."

Vijender also said that he is aware of how hard working these athletes are.

"When they won medals in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games they had to undergo doping tests and they were found clean then. I know how hard they work."

Quartermilers Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar, Mary Tiana Thomas, Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu tested positive for anabolic steroids.

Long jumper Hari Krishnan Muralidharan and shot putter Sonia were the other two who also tested positive for the same substance.

On the International Amateur Boxing Association's (AIBA) decision to take headguards off in all elite men competitions, the 25-year-old said, "Without headguards it would be professional boxing. Amateur boxing happens with headguards.

"Amateur is not as popular as professional boxing. So they are trying to bring in some changes. But there are more chances of boxers getting injured without a headgear. We train without headgear many times. So hopefully there won't be too many problems."

The AIBA, at its Executive Committee meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan a couple of days ago, had decided to change the technical and competition rules for all its programs, including headguards rule for all elite men competitions in AIBA Amateur, World Series Boxing and AIBA Professional Boxing programs.

Vijender said he was still coming to terms with the new scoring system.

"I was very happy with the old points system. In the new points system you get very high scores -- almost 75-80 at times -- which did not happen earlier," he said, adding that the boxers are trying to get used to it during training.

Stating that he had not yet been contacted by the Mumbai-based Transstadia, which has signed a 10-year deal with World Series Boxing to own an Indian team, he said, "Let the Olympics get over first, only then we will discuss that."

Asked about his leaner and fitter look, Vijender said, "I have reduced weight. I play in the under-75 category. The weight does increases sometimes to 77-78. We have to maintain it between 59-75, otherwise you cannot take part in the championships."