Days forward of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK, one other member of India’s 4x100m girls’s relay squad has examined optimistic for banned substances in checks carried out by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
Less than every week in the past, sprinter Dhanalaksmi, who was additionally a part of the 4x100m relay workforce, and triple-jump nationwide report holder Aishwarya Babu had failed their drug checks.
Confirming the most recent growth, a prime official of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), who spoke on situation of anonymity, mentioned, “Yes, the athlete has tested positive and we will follow the procedure.”
The sprinter, who was a nationwide camper two years in the past, was a late inclusion within the squad for the July 28 to August 8 occasion. With her failing the drug take a look at, the Indian girls’s 4x100m relay squad has been left excessive and dry simply 4 days forward of the competitors.
Since two out of the six members of the relay squad have now failed the checks, the Indian workforce may have no damage cowl. There is a chance that 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and lengthy jumper Ancy Sojan, who’re a part of the CWG squad, shall be roped in as backup runners.
This has been the worst 12 months for Indian athletics because the 2011 doping scandal when six quarter-milers, together with members of the 2010 CWG and Asian gold-winning girls’s workforce, failed checks. The then 400m nationwide coach Yuri Ogordnik was sacked and prime athletes had been banned.
Since the Tokyo Olympics final 12 months, not less than 9 athletes have examined optimistic for banned substances, together with two who represented India in Japan. The listing of dope offenders this season, aside from this week’s names, embrace discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur (sixth at Tokyo), Shivpal Singh (India’s second-best javelin thrower after Neeraj Chopra), M R Poovamma (three-time Asian Games 4x400m relay champion), javelin thrower Rajender Singh, and younger Taranjeet Kaur, who received the 100m and 200m U-23 nationwide titles.
India has the third highest variety of doping instances, in line with the most recent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report launched in 2021. With 152 instances throughout sporting disciplines, the nation is barely under leaders Russia (167) and Italy (157).
The Indian Express had on May 10 reported how one of many nation’s prime 400m girls runners evaded dope testers, together with these from the Athletics Integrity Unit, for over a month.
