Sprinter Nirmala Sheoran banned for 4 years, stripped of Asian titles

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which manages track and field doping cases, says Nirmala Sheoran tested positive for the steroids drostanolone and metenolone at a competition in India in June 2018.

Indian sprinter Nirmla Sheoran has been handed a four-year doping ban and stripped of her 400m and 4x400m relay titles from the 2017 Asian Championships. The Athletics Integrity Unit, which manages track and field doping cases, says she tested positive for the steroids drostanolone and metenolone in sample taken at the Inter-State meet in Guwahati in June 2018.

File image of Indian athlete Nirmala Sheoran (AP)

The National Anti-Doping Laboratory in New Delhi returned a negative result, but the World Anti-doping Agency re-tested the sample of four Indian athletes, including Sheoran, in Montreal. All four tested positive.

Nirmla, 24, whose biological passport also showed irregular blood readings, “accepted the charge, did not request a hearing and was ready to accept the consequences,” the AIU said. The ban was backdated to June 29, 2018. Her results from August 2016 to November 2018 were disqualified.

All members of the 4x400m relay win at the Asian Championships will lose their medals.