Doping claims fourth life in 17 days

Usage of illegal steroids and overenhancing drugs claims the life of fourth Pakistani bodybuilder in 17 days including South Asian Bodybuilding Championship bronze medalist. 

It is reliably learnt that many of the bodybuilders are preferring shortcuts to national and international success and they have been using illegal steroids and drugs excessively for their lust of winning and show off. 

Matloob Haider, a resident of Gujranwala, is the fourth bodybuilder to have died in Punjab due to excessive use of steroids over the last 17 days while Rizwan met the same fate in Gujranwala last week. 

Pakistani bodybuilder Humayun Khurram, who won gold medal in the South Asian Bodybuilding Championship, passed away here in mysterious circumstances. According to family members of Khurram, he died when apparently his food trachea broke while having meal. The family claimed that Khurram did not take any steroid. 

Another prominent bodybuilder Hamid Ali, nicknamed Gujju, passed away here in similar circumstances. Gujju wanted to become Mr. Pakistan but he died on April 3, just a few days after featuring in the South Asian contest where he claimed bronze medal. Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation (PBBF) president Sheikh Farooq Iqbal lamented on the deaths of four Pakistani bodybuilders and also offered his heartfelt condolence to the families of the deceased. 

“With the help of government of Pakistan, we are going to cancel the registration of all the across the country and forming a five-member committee which will register all the gyms again and then take oath from all the gyms not to use illegal drugs and those, who will be found using them, will be sealed and a stern action will be taken against them,” he said. 

“We are also seeking help government’s help in making a policy in this regard. We have also planed to organise awareness programmes which will make the bodybuilders aware of prohibited stuff and proper diet plan for the improvement,” the PBBF chief added.

The PBBF chief also requested the government to either make anti-doping laboratory in the country or helped them examine the Pakistani players before any major international events. “This is the second time that an athlete passed away like and there is a dire need to set up an anti-doping laboratory to make testing easier.”

Farooq also said that they would investigate about the deaths of four bodybuilders and if something wrong was proved, then action would be taken against the culprits. 

A gym trainer on condition of anonymity told this scribe that most of the steroids and drugs have been imported illegally from Dubai and Iran. The stuff from Dubai is comparatively better than that which is being illegally imported from Iran which comes via Afghanistan border. “This stuff is mostly expired and have double expiry on it and is also includes the stuff which is used for animals there.”
 

He lamented that many of gym trainers were not certified and didn’t have proper knowledge of pros and cons of the drugs which they illegally used to overenhance the bodies of their trainees. “Such illiterate and fake gym trainers must be banned which will certainly help in saving many of precious innocent lives, as they give prohibited drugs to the youngsters to enhance their bodies within a few days without keeping in mind the side affects of this life-threatening stuff. There is a dire need to stop these quakes to toy with the lives of innocent upcoming bodybuilders.”

He also said that he came to know through a reliable source that Hamid Ali Gujju used eight tablets at once for making his skin thin right before featuring in the South Asian Bodybuilding Championship, and its result was heart attack after a few days which cost him his life.

(Source: The Nation)