The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has conducted doping tests on between 150 and 200 Asian Games athletes in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, and as of Monday, no positive results have been reported.
During an anti-doping press conference on the second full day of the Games, the OCA emphasized that doping testing was gaining momentum at the event. Mani Jegathesan, an adviser to the OCA’s anti-doping committee, issued a warning that any athletes using banned substances would be identified.
Although up to 200 athletes have undergone testing thus far, Jegathesan noted that it would take several days for any positive results to be confirmed.
“Every athlete participating in these Games must understand that they could be picked at any time,” Jegathesan warned.
“That is the best step to ensuring we have a clean event.”
There are about 12,000 athletes at the 19th Asian Games, more competitors than the Olympics, and Jegathesan admitted it would be impossible to test them all.
Instead, they will prioritise, including picking out those who break world or Asian records.
