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Dutee Chand suspended for doping
India’s top woman sprinter tested positive for banned anabolic agents in her sample in an out-of-competition test conducted by the National Anti-doping Agency.
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India's top woman sprinter Dutee Chand failed a dope test and has been provisionally suspended, sports officials with knowledge of the development said on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old national 100m record holder failed an out-of-competition test conducted by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on December 5. She was informed by NADA about the adverse analytical finding and provisionally suspended on January 3, the officials said.
Chand’s sample tested positive for banned anabolic agents andarine, enobosarm and ligandrol. The class of substance comes under Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) in WADA prohibited list and can lead to a ban for four years.
SARMs is a class of therapeutic compounds that have similar anabolic properties to anabolic steroids, but with reduced androgenic (producing male characteristics) properties, says an explanation on the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA) website. It is a type of supplement that helps build muscle mass and burn fat.
Chand, who won two silver medals at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, set the current 100m national record of 11.17 seconds at Patiala in June 2021. She had also qualified for the 100m at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Her last event was the Birmingham Commonwealth Games held in last July-August where she was eliminated after clocking 11.55 secs to finish fourth in her first-round heat. She was also a member of the women’s 4x100m relay squad that finished fifth in the final. Two original relay members – Dhanalakshmi Sekar and MV Jilna – had tested positive in the run-up to the Games and 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji was roped into the squad. Dhanalakshmi Sekar’s sample too had tested positive for SARMs.
The letter issued by NADA to Chand gives her seven working days to appeal for a ‘B’ sample test failing which it will be assumed that she has waived her right to get the second sample tested, PTI said. It said the sprinter, when contacted on Wednesday, said she was unaware of the 'A' sample testing positive. "I do not know," she was quoted as saying.
Chand’s positive test will only increase scrutiny on Indian athletics, which has seen a spate of doping cases. Woman discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who finished an impressive sixth at the Tokyo Olympics, was caught in March 2022. She is serving a three-year ban after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol.
Athletics Federation of India president, Adille Sumariwalla, said: “She was not in the national camp. What I read from media is that it was an out-of-competition test in Bhubaneswar. AFI has been very strict and together with NADA we are taking all possible steps to curb doping. We have maintained that AFI has a zero-tolerance policy as far as doping is concerned.”
The Odisha athlete had to win a long legal battle with the International athletics body, WA, after being barred from competing in 2014 due to hyperandrogenism, which is related to the level of male hormone testosterone exceeding the limit set for women athletes.
WA though issued fresh hyperandrogenism rules in 2018 allowing participation in 100m and 200m while barring women athletes with excess of naturally occurring testerostone from 400m to 1,500m.
