India, Aug. 4 -- In its bid to crackdown on doping at grassroots level, the Meerut District Athletics Association (MDAA) has taken steps to enforce the Athletics Federation of India's no-needle policy. It conducts checks of the bags of athletes coming in for training and conducts surprise inspections near toilets.

Dedicated teams of volunteers supervise events and are posted at the main entrance to prevent syringes and banned drugs from being brought on to the track.

Checks are conducted during competitions. The volunteers routinely find and confiscate syringes, injectable medicines, and improvised spikes. Such medicines are destroyed in front of athletes to deter them from bringing such items in again.

Anu Kumar, MDAA secretary since ...