Kerala’s young middle-distance runner Abhishek Mathew, touted as a potential participant for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, has failed a dope test during a state school meet in November. The reigning Asian youth champion in 800m had been dominating age-group competitions at the national level since 2014 but had never failed a dope test.
During the year-end school competition, Mathew clinched three gold — 400m, 800m and 15,00m —but tested positive for dimethylpentylamine, a performance-enhancing drug which was added to the World Anti Doping Agency’s prohibited list in 2010.
Mathew, who was preparing for the World Junior Championship in Finland from July 10-15, is now staring at a four-year suspension. Sources told Hindustan Times that he had been provisionally suspended pending a hearing. If guilty, the 18-year old will be banned for four years.
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In May, Mathew had clocked 1 minute 54.99 seconds to win gold in the Asian Youth Championship at Bangkok. He further improved his timing, clocking 1:52.84 sec at the National Junior Championship in Vijayawada (Nov 16-20).
An athletics expert told Hindustan Times that Mathew “has shown marked improvement in the last three years”. “He contributed hugely to Kerala winning the National Junior Championship overall title in 2016 at Coimbatore.” The national-level coach said that Mathew had made great strides and the positive had come as a “shocker.”
{{/usCountry}}An athletics expert told Hindustan Times that Mathew “has shown marked improvement in the last three years”. “He contributed hugely to Kerala winning the National Junior Championship overall title in 2016 at Coimbatore.” The national-level coach said that Mathew had made great strides and the positive had come as a “shocker.”
{{/usCountry}}Mathew isn’t the first high-profile youngster to have been caught this year. National youth javelin throw champion Rohit Yadav was suspended for failing a dope test for stanozolol during random in-competition testing in April. Incidentally, he went on to win silver at the Asian Youth Championship in Bangkok, but was later stripped of his medal.
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World Championship bronze medallist in long jump Anju Bobby George says doping is rampant. “It’s a big issue at the school level,” she said. The Olympian added that, “It is shocking that school-going children know so much about performance-enhancing drugs.”
The Kerala state education department had recently asked the National Anti Doping Agency to conduct dope tests in school competitions, but that hardly seems to be a deterrent.