'Cheapest and most effective way to prevent doping is education' - Dr. Gurcharan Singh

• Published date: 01 March 2020
• Publication title: Sunday Times

The football world reeled in shock when Argentine superstar Diego Maradona was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles after he tested positive for five variants of ephedrine, a stimulant banned by soccer's international governing body.

Dr. Gurcharan Singh, addressing the gathering flanked by FFSL officials in Colombo

The suspension marked the third time a player has been thrown out of World Cup play for violating doping regulations. In 1974, Ernest Jean-Joseph of Haiti was suspended for a substance that was not publicly identified, and in 1978, Willie Johnston of Scotland was sent home for using another stimulant, fencamfamine.

Maradona was handed a worldwide suspension by FIFA from April 6, 1991, to June 30, 1992, after he tested positive for cocaine while playing for Napoli of the Italian League.

However, the use of stimulants or performance enhancing drugs in football is not rampant as it appears with only insignificant percentage of 0.4 percent testing positive from over 30,000 players tested last year.

'The majority of them is due to recreational drugs they have taken like marijuana or cocaine and it becomes...