Padukone takes `blame’ for Popat

Bangalore, April 5: Former Indian Badminton ace Prakash Padukone said he would take a major share of the blame for the three-month ban imp...

Bangalore, April 5: Former Indian Badminton ace Prakash Padukone said he would take a major share of the blame for the three-month ban imposed by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) on the country’s top woman player Aparna Popat for taking a banned substance.

“I would personally take a major share of the blame on behalf of BAI for not educating our players sufficiently regarding the list of banned substances,” Padukone, who is the executive president of Badminton Association of India (BAI), said in a statement here.

“There are more than 200 such banned items on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) list and it is difficult for the players in India to know which medicine can be taken and which medicines are banned,” he said.

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Moreover, most of these medicines were available across the counter in India and did not need prescription, he said.

Stating he was disappointed with the ban, he said Popat, in fact, had taken the medication inadvertently not knowing that the medicine contained a banned substance.

BAI, Padukone said, expected IBF to let her off with a warning, considering she had taken the medication out of ignorance. He said the others factors for such a line of thinking were: This was a first time offence for Popat: She had also declared in writing that she was taking the medicine. Besides, BAI had not taken enough steps to circulate the list of banned substances to players.

“BAI is satisfied that the presence of the substancewas due to Popat taking the medication prior to the commencement of the tournament to treat a medical condition,” he said.