KUALA LUMPUR − The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) medical and anti-doping committee is concerned with the number of heart-related issues and post-Covid 19 effects among professional athletes, especially with several major multi-sport games lined up this year.
As such, national athletes bound for the Hanoi SEA Games (May 12-23), Birmingham Commonwealth Games (July 28-August 8) and Hangzhou Asian Games (September 10-25) will have to undergo proper cardiovascular assessments, especially those involved in high-intensity sports like football, hockey, badminton and squash.
Committee chairman Datuk Dr. S. S. Cheema said the OCM and the National Sports Institute (NSI) would collaborate with the National Heart Institute (IJN) to get a discounted rate (for the cardiac assessment) as part of IJN’s corporate social responsibility.
“Once you have done an echo (echocardiogram), you don’t really have to worry for the next four to five years. It’s very important because too many sudden deaths have occurred recently... these could be (due to) Covid-19 complications, for example myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle),” he told Bernama.
Several high-profile heart-related cases have been reported recently with the one that sent shockwaves around the world being when Danish footballer Christian Eriksen collapsed during the Euro 2020 match against Finland last June due to cardiac arrest despite having no such medical issues before.
Even the local sports scene was not spared as Malaysians were left reeling by the sudden death of national archer Haziq Kamaruddin on the second day of Hari Raya last May.
The Health Ministry said a post-mortem revealed that Haziq died of complications arising from clogged heart blood vessels due to coronary artery atherosclerosis.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cheema said the OCM executive board had also directed the committee to work closely with the NSI on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to Covid-19 for the major games, including a two-week “safety bubble” prior to departure for the SEA Games.
He said it was crucial to have proper SOPs in place, especially with the spike in daily cases and the recent outbreak in the men and women’s hockey teams prior to the Asian Champions Trophy and footballers competing at the Asean Football Federation U-23 Championships in Cambodia.
“The athletes and officials have to be focused from now on because if they test positive, it will jeopardise not only their participation but that of the rest of the contingent as well. All the hard work and the chance to showcase their best performance will be wasted.
“The SOPs during the three Games (SEA, Commonwealth and Asian) may vary slightly according to the host country’s health authorities and the current Covid-19 situations. But what we can expect are the pre-departure, on-arrival and daily Covid-19 tests for athletes and officials,” he said.
Touching on anti-doping measures, Dr. Cheema, who is also SEA Games Federation and Olympic Council of Asia medical and anti-doping committee member, said the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) has been doing a fantastic job in testing the athletes and combating the cheats.
He said the two most common types of doping offences in Malaysia were related to the use of “supplements” containing steroids and slimming pills containing banned substances without consulting the NSI.
“We have repeatedly told the athletes not to consume any supplements without consulting the NSI first. There are no supplements, which will increase your performance tremendously, unless you’re told by somebody to take certain performance-enhancing drugs.
“But there is no escape, you will definitely get caught. The tests are very stringent nowadays so no way you can escape. Once you’re caught, you’re not only letting down your family and association but also the country.
“Not to forget that taxpayers’ money has been invested to train you, so don’t let everything go to waste,” he said, adding that Adamas hoped to obtain the pre-competition test results before the athletes depart for the respective games. – Bernama, March 9, 2022
