Doping testing regime in place for Singapore's national athletes, with those at higher risk tested more often

SINGAPORE: There is a framework of rules and standards to keep sports in Singapore free of doping, which includes the use of both recreational drugs and performance-enhancing drugs, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Eric Chua on Tuesday (Oct 4).

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Chua said that this aims to equip national athletes with the information, tools and values for them to exercise "sound judgement and choices" when it comes to the use of drugs.

There are two key strategies by which this is implemented - through education and prevention, as well as detection and deterrence, he added.

Mr Chua was responding to questions from MPs Dr Wan Rizal (PAP-Jalan Besar) and Darryl David (PAP-Ang Mo Kio) on measures to protect Singapore’s carded athletes from the misuse of drugs, and whether the Government or National Sports Associations (NSA) have programmes that regularly test national and elite athletes for recreational drug use and performance-enhancing drug use.

The Government established Anti-Doping Singapore (ADS) as the national anti-doping authority in Singapore in 2010.

"SportSG (Sport Singapore) works with ADS and the broader sporting fraternity to ensure that sport in Singapore is free of doping, and that our national athletes compete fairly and safely, and that they can be upheld as role models for Singapore and Singaporeans," said Mr Chua, who pointed out that ADS oversees a "robust" doping testing regime.

"ADS develops and regularly reviews a test distribution plan for athletes, with higher testing frequencies for athletes assessed to be at higher risk of doping. Several factors are considered in determining the risk level of doping, such as the athlete’s performance