New Delhi: The row over Indian cricketers' refusal to sign in to the World Anti Doping Association (WADA)'s anti-doping code is getting bigger by the day.
Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh on Wednesday hit back at sportspersons criticising cricketers for not signing an anti-doping clause.
He argued that cricketers played to a cramped calendar, making it necessary for them to guard their privacy in a brief off-season.
Beijing gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra and several other Olympians have ridiculed the cricketers' privacy and security apprehensions with regards to the 'Whereabouts Clause' of the WADA anti-doping code which requires athletes to furnish their location three months in advance for out of competition tests.
Yuvraj said while the athletes from other sports were entitled to their opinions, the cricketers' concerns were not without basis either.
"I feel we are travelling more. We are playing a lot of time in a year and we should be given more space with due respect to other sports," Yuvraj told CNN-IBN.
"After nine months of playing, we come home for just 10 days. We don't want somebody to intrude our privacy for dope tests during that small period. We have put out our points in front of the BCCI and they will speak to the ICC," he added.
Earlier in the day, India's badminton sensation Saina Nehwal who is recuperating from a bout of chicken-pox spoke to CNN-IBN on this and other issues.
Saina said the cricketers' fears on WADA sign-up were unfounded.
"Everyone has to go through it. Everyone who is a sportsperson have to go through it. I think they say that they have very less time with their families. Even we are sportspersons, even we have very less time with our families. But I think they are making a very big issue out of a very small thing. It is just a matter of 15-20 minutes. I do not think that it is a very big problem," Saina said.
Yuvraj Singh, the feisty left-hander said athletes from other sports don't have to travel abroad as much as the cricketers have to.
"Their sports and our sport is different. We play more and we get very little time with our families. They have their opinions but we have our concerns and we have conveyed them," he said.
India's tennis star Sania Mirza said, "We all share the same goals as WADA being a part of the world sports fraternity. It would not be fair and sportsmen of the world to make exceptions to WADA's rule. I am sure that any doubts that the cricketers have can be sorted out amicably through consensus before they sign on that dotted line."
Sania's opinion had takers in other players like tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi.
"Lots of tennis players had apprehensions about this testing but all of us are doing it now. I have been doing the 'whereabouts' the entire year. If the system allows for those who abuse it to be caught, we should go with it," Bhupathi advised.
Even former billiards player Michael Ferreira said that the Indian cricketers were no different from others and should not object to the dope test.
"There are rules for sportsmen on one hand and rules for Indian cricketers on the other. Sad but true. I respect them. Many of them are my friends but this is the reality of the Indian situation. They should respect the spirit behind WADA's policy which is to keep sport drug free and dope free. That is a cause they should relate to without exception without condition," said Ferreira.
(With inputs from PTI)
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