By Neto Baptiste
Athlete testing in Antigua has been hampered by a lack of equipment coupled with the advent of the coronavirus.
This s according to Antigua and Barbuda’s representative to the Caribbean’s Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO), Dr Dwayne Thwaites, who made the disclosure while speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.
“We are still keeping our data up to date. We haven’t been able to do any testing and one of the things is that because we were behind with funding, getting the material in [was difficult] and as Covid hit us we were looking to start doing some events.
“We had started to talk to the athletes about testing and we were going to do a couple of surprise testing for a few of the different groups but because of Covid we did not go through with it,” he said.
Thwaites, who is also an avid horse race fan and horse owner, revealed that all athletes, once they qualify to represent the country internationally, are subject to testing which he added would be unannounced.
“Whosoever is going to be competing internationally should be tested and the test is usually a surprise group who would pop in one day. We would give their leader a hint we are somewhere around and we would come in and do one or two tests on the athletes.
“When we get to the international level, most of those tests are done by the international orgainsation. We are supposed to be doing local tests which is what I am responsible for,” he added.
Thwaites was appointed to the position in 2018 following the resignation of Dr Philmore Benjamin.