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Some local players use performance-enhancement drugs – JE Sarpong

The veteran coach wants anti-doping tests introduced into the local game.

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According to him most coaches are aware of the menace, but cannot speak out because players who use drugs “are usually the best players in their teams”.

Doping is a very serious offense in global sports, with athletes who are found guilty usually been sanctioned or handed lengthy bans.

However, in Ghana, no tests are done of players before and during the course of the league season.

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And JE Sarpong believes the system is not tight enough and allows local players to engage in the use of performance-enhancement drugs.

“Some players do take drugs to play football in Ghana, but our coaches find it difficult to control it because these players are usually the best players in their teams and you cannot sack or punish them,” he lamented.“I know the coaches need the result badly, but they must talk to their players to desist from such bad acts because it is going to shorten their career as footballers.”

The former Liberty Professionals and Ebusua Dwarfs coach also called for better structures to be put in place to curb doping. According to him, the Ghana Football Association is currently not doing enough to help the cause.

READ ALSO: Reunion: Michael Essien meets Carlton Cole in Indonesia “As an experienced coach in Ghana, I have never heard the Ghana Football Association (GFA) talking about an anti-doping system. There’s nothing like that in Ghana football.

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“No player’s blood or urine sample has been taken by the GFA to be tested, which is not good for the development of our players.

“The GFA must pay attention to this act, there must be an anti-doping system in our local football as it is done in the other part of the world. Professional footballers are required to take ‘random’ drugs tests, failure in one of these tests or a refusal to take the test can see a hefty ban on you."

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