Iran's three-time Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati calls for fellow athletes to show their support for clean sport on WADA's Play True Day.
On the annual Play True Day, an
initiative that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) launched in 2014,
three-time Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati calls for fellow athletes to show
their support for clean sport.
The International Paralympic
Committee (IPC) expresses its support for clean sport on the World Anti-Doping
Agency’s (WADA) annual Play True Day on 14 April 2023.
Commitment to clean sport
In line with WADA’s efforts, the IPC
is committed to ensuring clean, fair and competitive sport for all
athletes.
The aim of the IPC’s anti-doping
programme is to safeguard the long-term integrity and development of the
Paralympic Movement. This entails a respect for anti-doping rules, fellow
competitors, fair competition, a level playing field and the value of clean
sport to the world.
The International Paralympic
Committee has developed the IPC Anti-Doping Code (include link in text), in
alignment with the principles of the World Anti-Doping Code, to safeguard clean
sport. It applies to the Paralympic Games and all events and competitions under
the IPC’s jurisdiction.
Play True Day
WADA first launched the initiative in 2014 to raise awareness among athletes, sports fans and others about the importance of anti-doping.
Play True Day started out as a small campaign in South America and has since expanded to reach millions of people around the world each year. WADA has invited athletes, national and regional anti-doping organizations, sports federations and other stakeholders to join the campaign this year.
Iran’s Zahra Nemati: Clean athletes are against any act of doping
Nemati is a three-time Paralympic
champion in Para archery and a member of the IPC Athletes’ Council.
Zahra Nemati, a three-time Paralympic
champion in Para archery, participated in WADA’s annual symposium in Lausanne,
Switzerland, in March 2023. One of the objectives of the symposium was to give
participants an overview of WADA’s key goals.
“We came into sport through a
transparent classification system, we follow the rules and we want to compete
on a level playing field,” Nemati said about the importance of playing clean in
sports. “Always we should play true even beyond the field of play.”
Nemati, who is also a member of the
IPC Athletes’ Council, encouraged fellow athletes to show their commitment and
support for clean sport on Play True Day.
“The day is a special occasion during
which we can express our feelings around sport and show our support for clean
Para sport. Clean athletes are against any act of doping and we stand for true
sport,” she said.
“I encourage all athletes to voice
their support for Play True Day.”
The 2023 Symposium
Under the theme ‘United toward a
world of doping-free sport’, WADA's 2023 Annual Symposium held at the
SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne, Switzerland on 14-15 March.
The Symposium – including a mix of
plenary and breakout sessions, as well as discussions on some of the developing
innovations in anti-doping - once again gathered anti-doping practitioners
from International Federations, National and Regional Anti-Doping Organizations
and Major Event Organizations; as well as, Athletes, Governments,
WADA-accredited laboratories, Athlete Passport Management Units, service
providers, researchers, and the media – to help advance the global
collaborative mission for doping-free sport.
The most important issues which were discussed
this year:
- Actively facilitate sharing of knowledge, best practices
and existing tools between ADOs to enhance the capacity and quality of global anti-doping
programs
- Develop partnerships with leaders in respective fields
to advance new anti-doping system innovations
- Strengthen WADA Regional Offices to coordinate and
support ADOs and national authorities in the development and implementation of
effective and compliant anti-doping programs