By Neha Aggarwal
A booth has been set up in the training hall, where experts from NADA are present to educate the athletes on prevention from doping. With the theme “Together Against Doping” and “Give Everything and Take Nothing” the organizers are working tirelessly to educate the athletes on rules of anti-doping, its challenges, unintentional doping and the learning tools provided by NADA and ITTF.
Additionally, all anti-doping controls during the championship were also conducted by NADA Germany in collaboration with ITTF and DTTB.
Dr. Andrea Gotzmann, CEO of NADA Germany said, “We are pleased that the International Table Tennis Federation has delegated the organization of doping controls during the World Championships in Düsseldorf to NADA as an independent body. Equally, the cooperation in the area of prevention is an important component to raise awareness for the transfer of knowledge about the doping problem and serves the protection of all athletes.”
Also present were Miran Kondric, ITTF Sports Science and Medical Committee and Francoise Dagouret, ITTF Anti-Doping Manager, who expressed their commitment to educate the athletes on clean sport.
Also the newly elected ITTF President, Mr. Thomas Weikert said, “ITTF is extremely committed to keep table tennis a doping-free sport and firmly believes that all table tennis players have the right to compete on a level playing field. For these reasons, we are delighted about the joint work between our Sports Science and Medical Committee and NADA, which has been greatly facilitated on the operational side by the DTTB as Organizing Committe here at the Düsseldorf Messe.”
He continued, “We will do everything to fight against the guys who want to manipulate doping. This initiative is a message for all the associations to see our work.”
“To protect the sport and the athletes, the fight against doping is important and elementary. Table tennis stands for clean sports. That is why we actively support the activities of NADA, not just here at this World Championships”, concluded Michael Geiger, President DTTB.
The ITTF believes in keeping table tennis a doping-free sport. To know more log into www.ittf.com/anti-doping/.
Watch the NADA video featuring top level players’ commitment to clean sport!