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New Delhi, Sep 7 (ANI): Union Sports Minister M S Gill on Tuesday said strict action would be taken against any athlete found guilty of drug abuse.

Gill also asserted that checking would be prompt and testing would be quick and accurate.

Gill’s reaction came after six wrestlers caused a major embarrassment to the country ahead of the 2010 Games by failing their ‘B’ sample tests conducted by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

The ‘A’ samples of the six wrestlers taken by NADA at Commonwealth Games trials had tested positive for stimulant methylhexanamine, which was added as a banned substance only this year by World Anti-Doping Agency.

Earlier on Saturday, the ‘B’ samples of these wrestlers also tested positive in the tests conducted by NADA.

Four wrestlers, who were part of the Commonwealth Games squad, have tested positive and the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) provisionally suspended them on Thursday.

This came barely a week after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) bailed out the weightlifters by giving an interest-free loan to the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) to pay off fines due to doping sanctions.The wrestlers tested positive for a banned substance called Methylhexanamine. The tests were part of routine random testing by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) in the run-up to the Games.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) suspended freestyle wrestlers Sumit (74 kg), Mausam Khatri (96 kg), Gursharanpreet Kaur (72 kg) and Tomar (120 kg), who were to participate in the Games.

Rahul Mann (60kg) and Joginder Singh (120kg) were the other two wrestlers testing positive in the NADA test.

National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) collected their samples during the team selection trials held on August 8.

The wrestlers were undergoing training at camps in Sonepat and Patiala.

Jagminder Singh, the chief coach of the Indian wrestlers, who failed the drug tests ahead of the Commonwealth Games, has, however, come out defending the players.

“The players may have been ignorant about the banned substance as the stimulant methyl-hexaneamine was only banned by World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) earlier this year,” said Singh, while talking to a leading news channel.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games, which kicks off on October 3 is India’s biggest sporting event since the 1982 Asian Games.

India is expecting about two million tourists in New Delhi for the Games, as well as about 10,000 athletes from 71 teams representing 54 Commonwealth member states. (ANI)