New Delhi: Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid Tuesday favoured sportspersons signing the"whereabout" clause of anti-doping agency WADA as this would reduce chances of corrupt practices in the game.
Dravid is the first cricketer to have aired his view on this issue which has not been agreed to by BCCI or the current senior national team players.
Under this agreement, a player has to sign an agreement with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to provide information about their exact location as well as engagements for three months in advance. Cricketers, who were supported by BCCI, had refused to sign it saying it violated their privacy.
"Sportspersons have to realise the whereabout clause. I will be the first one to sign it straight away. Sportsmen should not be given a choice in these things," he said while speaking at a special session on 'Ethics and Integrity in Sports' organised by CBI.
Dravid insisted this clause needed to be applied so that innocent players do not suffer.
"These need to be enforced. Age-testing, participation in lie-detector tests, surveillance of communications, surprise dope sampling and other losses of privacy and liberty will unfortunately be inconveniences that every athlete -- even those who would never cheat -- will have to bear with as part of the bargain," he said.
"It will be an unfortunate new reality for the majority of athletes who play their game honestly and with integrity. But then sport is fighting no simple battle -- it is never easy to overcome a challenge when it comes as much from within as without," Dravid said.
He said that in order to curb corrupt practices in sports, there's a need to enforce more regulation, involve security agencies and conduct polygraph tests.
"You need more regulation, security agencies need to be more involved, polygraph tests need to be conducted...do anything but honest and good sportspersons should be protected," said Dravid.
