Alvick Maharaj calls for drug test of student athletes for next Coca-Cola Games

Opposition MP Alvick Maharaj is recommending that random drug tests through parental consent should be done to athletes participating in next year’s Coca-Cola Games because they do not want to put athletes who are not into drugs at a disadvantage competing with those athletes who are actually doing drugs, maybe in school or outside school, and competing in the Coca-Cola Games.

While responding to the ministerial statement by Education Minister Aseri Radrodro on the successful 2025 Fiji Secondary Schools National Athletics Competition, Maharaj says there needs to be a standard to be followed during the games.

He says the late finishing of the games was also a concern as some kids reach home late at night, while the number of missing kids is high.

Radrodro says safety should be given equal priority as the success of the game.

The Opposition MP also questioned the Minister on how students can prepare for the exam this week when the Coca-Cola Games were last week, and the Ministry should coordinate better.

He also called on the Ministry for Youth and Sports to use the competition to select athletes who will represent Fiji in national tournaments because most of them go missing after high school.

He also challenged the government if they had the guts to change the name of the Coca-Cola Games.

While making his Ministerial statement, Education Minister Aseri Radrodro says all of them have witnessed the remarkable displays of talent, perseverance, and sportsmanship of over 2,000 student-athletes who represented 160 secondary schools around Fiji in the track and field event this year.

He says a total of 179 secondary schools around Fiji and 160 were represented at the Games.

The Minister acknowledged the sponsors for recognising and rewarding the second and third-place getters in the girls' and boys' divisions.

He says the monetary reward is the outcome of a series of meetings with the sporting bodies whereby concerns have been raised on the commercialisation of students during the organised sporting events.

Radrodro adds for the first time, monetary rewards have been given to the schools that have obtained second and third place in the boys' and girls' divisions.

He says all heads of schools have been informed that at least a minimum of 50 percent of the prize money must be shared with the student-athletes that participated and their coaching panel.

The Minister says this incentive is a return, valuing their sacrifices and their commitment, and he also wishes to acknowledge the families, the parents, and the guardians of these students, some of who made the sacrifices to sell yaqona, to sell food or to raise money as communities, to be able to support parents to make their way and students to make their way to the games. Radrodro also highlighted that the unity noted in the three days of sports with no major incidents occurring indicates that the children, the parents, the guardians, the old scholars and the Fijian community recognise that the development of children is a shared responsibility.