TN sprinter Dhanalakshmi receives eight-year ban for second doping violation; Uttrakhand cricketer Rajan Kumar tests positive
Tamil Nadu sprinter S. Dhanalakshmi has been suspended for eight years for her second anti-doping rule violation, as per a National Anti-Doping Agency Disciplinary Panel decision on December 30.
The 27-year-old Dhanalakshmi, who returned to action last year after serving an earlier suspension and recorded her personal best of 11.36 to win the women’s 100m at the National Inter-state meet in Chennai in August, had tested positive for drostanolone.
Her sample was collected at the Indian Open meet at Sangrur in July and she was provisionally suspended following the positive test. Her period of ineligibility will start from September 19 last year.
The sprinter returned to action this season after serving a three-year suspension for doping, has tested positive for a second time, according to reliable sources.
The National Inter-State meet in Chennai was Dhanalakshmi’s third competition since her return. Her ban ended on the first day of August’s Tamil Nadu State Senior Athletics Championships, where she announced her comeback by bagging the title.
Uttarakhand left-arm pacer Rajan Kumar failed a dope test and was handed provisional suspension by the NADA in a rare case involving a cricketer.
The 29-year-old Kumar’s dope sample was found to contain anabolic steroids Drostanolone and Metenolone, as well as Clomifene, which is generally used as a medication to treat infertility in women but also has the ability to restore testosterone levels among men.
Kumar last played against Delhi in Uttarakhand’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group D match in Ahmedabad on December 8, 2025.
Cricketers have rarely failed dope tests. Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Anshula Rao was caught for doping in 2020, while Prithvi Shaw failed dope test in 2019.
Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi also became one of the rare footballers to fail a dope test as her name also figured in the latest updated list of athletes who were handed provisional suspensions. Her sample was found to contain anabolic steroid Metandienone.
Others in the list are Gaurav Patel (athletics), Khushboo Kumari (weightlifting), Achalveer Karwasra (boxing) and Siddhant Sharma (polo).
Published on Jan 05, 2026