NADA doping sanctions: Eleven athletes, including three National Games participants, handed reduced sentences

Three National Games participants were among 11 sportspersons, who ended up getting reduced sanctions for failed dope tests after admitting to their offence within 20 days of being charged, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has revealed.

Liable to be banned for four years, their sentence was reduced by one year due to early acceptance of guilt earlier this month. Their names appeared in the latest NADA list of those who were handed reduced sanctions of three years under Article 10.8 of the NADA Rules.

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Kamaljeet Kaur (100m and 200m), Ajay Kumar (5000m and 10000m) and Harjodhvir Singh (5000m and 10000m) are the three track-and-field athletes, who failed dope tests in the October 25-November 9 National Games in Goa.

Article 10.8.1 of the NADA Anti-Doping Rules allows athletes charged with a four-year ban to benefit from a one year reduction if they admit the violation and accept the penalty within 20 days of being charged.

Article 10.8.2 provides an opportunity for the athlete to enter into a Case Resolution Agreement with the NADA and WADA in which the applicable period of ineligibility can be agreed upon based on the facts of the case.

More than 20 athletes from various sports returned positive for banned drugs in tests conducted during the Games.

Kamaljeet of Punjab had won silver in the women’s 200m (23.84 seconds) and finished sixth in 100m (11.73 seconds) at the event. She tested positive for Drostanolone, a synthetic anabolic steroid, according to the latest NADA list of decisions under case resolution agreement.

Ajay Kumar, who tested positive for Darbepoetin and Morphine, won the men’s 5000m bronze (14:13.33) and finished sixth in the 10,000m (30:39.91) at the Games. He had represented Goa at the National Games.

Punjab’s Harjodhvir, whose sample also tested positive for Darbepoetin and Morphine, did not win any medal. He finished fifth in men’s 5000m (14:18.20) and logged a DNF (Did Not Finish) in 10,000m.

The three athletes will begin their ban period from December 6, 2023, the date of their provisional suspension

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Three weightlifters — Priyadarshani Thuram (Mephentermine), Mithlesh Sonkar (SARM LGD-4033) and a minor (Methyltestosterone) — were also among the 11 sportspersons handed a reduced ban of three years.

The most prominent of the seven weightlifters who failed dope tests at the National Games was Vandana Gupta, a double bronze-medal winner in the Commonwealth Championships.

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Wrestler Anil Malik also get a reduced three-year ban in the latest list of this month.

Cyclist Anita Devi was handed a provisional suspension by NADA on December 6 after her urine sample collected on November 3 during the National Games was found to contain banned drug 19-Norandrosterone, an anabolic androgenic steroid.

But the NADA is yet to make public any details regarding Anita and Vandana.