Indian athletes who have failed doping test
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Wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s dream of representing India in the 74 kg freestyle wrestling category at the Rio Olympics, was shattered when he was tested positive for a banned steroid, recently. Yadav has since contested the results, alleging that he is the victim of a conspiracy, with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) also throwing its weight behind him.
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Ashwini Akkunji: One of the brightest stars of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Ashwini Akkunji, won much adulation after winning an individual gold in the 400m hurdles. She was also part of the five-member team that won gold in the 4x400m relay. Barely a year passed by before she, and her team members, found themselves in a doping scandal after being tested positive for anabolic steroids. Though she refuted the charges, Akkunji was dropped from athletics team and, in December 2011, the NADA banned her for a year. Back in the sport, Akkunji is now looking forward to being a part of the women’s 4x400m relay team at the Rio 2016.
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Pratima Kumari: While the country was revelling over Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore winning the country’s first-ever Olympic silver medal at 2004, Athens Olympics, came the news that Pratima Kumari, who was part of the 63 kg women’s weightlifting category, had been tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. She was among five other weightlifters who had failed the test. The International Weightlifting federation (IWF) suspended her for two years, until August 2006.
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Seema Punia Antil: Discus thrower Seema Punia Antil, who has qualified in the Women’s Discus Throw for Rio 2016, made headlines after she became the first ever Indian to win a gold medal in the World Junior Athletic Championships in 2000. However, she lost the medal after being tested positive for the use of the drug pseudoephedrine. She was let off after a warning. Antil also did not participate in the 2006 Doha Asian games, since she tested positive for a banned substance, during the team’s training camp in Muscat. Though she was cleared of the charges by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), she chose not to be a part of the Games.
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Sini Jose: The Kerala sprint athlete, who won the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2010 Asian Games in the 4x400 m relay event, was part of the relay team that had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Unlike most of the other athletes who made a comeback after their bans, Jose has not returned to the athletics scene, except for attending low profile inter-railways meets.
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Saurabh Vij: Indian shot putter Vij, who represented India at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, and won an Asian Junior silver medal, had got a berth in the national team in the buildup to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. However, his plans of representing the country ended abruptly after he was tested positive for the banned substance, methylhexaneamine - a stimulant. Vij was eventually re-included in the team, after he was cleared of doping charges, when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) notified the NADA that the substance ‘methlyhexaneamine’ had been moved from the ‘non-specified’ to ‘specified’ in its list of prohibitive substances, in 2011.
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Mandeep Kaur: Kaur was also part of the gold-winning 4x400m relay team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games. She tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2011, and was subsequently handed a two-year ban. Kaur denied taking any banned substances and blamed the results on tainted food. She made a comeback in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and won gold in the 4x400m event.
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Kunajarani Devi: One of the country’s most celebrated weightlifters, Kunjarani Devi, tested positive for the stimulant, strychnine, at the 2001 Asian Weightlifting Championships, held at Jeon Ju in South Korea. Devi was suspended for six months post which she returned to compete at the national Championships in 2001 and the Commonwealth Games, Manchester, 2002.
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Neelam Jaswant Singh: One of the senior-most discus throwers in the country, whose personal best was 64.55 metres at the Busan 2002 Asian Games, Singh became the first Indian to be tested positive for a banned substance at a World Championship, after she failed a dope test for pemoline, a stimulant, during the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, 2005. She was awarded a two-year ban by the International Association of Athletics federation (AFFI).
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- 10/11
Sanamacha Chanu: Along with Pratima Kumari, Chanu also tested positive for banned substance at the 2004 Summer Olympics, held in Athens. She had finished fourth at the Games but was disqualified after failing the dope test. She was also a part of the core team in the 2010 Commonwealth Games but was again tested positive for methylhexanamine. Chanu was subsequently banned for eight years.
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Rajiv Tomar: Indian wrestler and Arjuna Awardee, Rajiv Tomar, who had represented India in the men’s freestyle 120 kg category during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, was among the 11 athletes who tested positive for the use of the stimulant, methylhexaneamine, in August 2010. The wrestler was handed a two-year suspension by an anti-doping disciplinary panel.
Wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s dream of representing India in the 74 kg freestyle wrestling category at the Rio Olympics, was shattered when he was tested positive for a banned steroid, recently. Yadav has since contested the results, alleging that he is the victim of a conspiracy, with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) also throwing its weight behind him.
Even since the beginning, the Rio Olympics has been mired in controversy, with the ban of the entire Russian track and field athletics team over doping charges, being the latest one. India has also seen a number of its athletes being suspended over the years, for using banned substances. As per reports, over 500 athletes have tested positive for doping ever since the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) came into place in 2009, making India the country with one of the highest doping cases.
We take a look at some high-profile doping cases which took the shine off some of the athletes’ wins: