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Dhanalakshmi, Aishwarya doping cases raise concern before CWG
Dhanalakshmi and Aishwarya had shown great form in recent times but their positive tests are not good news for Indian athletics.
A spate of doping cases has rocked Indian track and field athletes recently. The latest to fail dope tests are the country’s top sprinter S. Dhanalakshmi and jumper Aishwarya Babu. Given that the positive tests come just days before the start of the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham, where both athletes were to compete, it is a big jolt to Indian athletics.
Dhanalakshmi tested positive in an out-of-competition test conducted by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in Turkey, where the Indian team trained in April ahead of a packed season.She had also clocked a stunning 11.26s in 100m in an international competition in Turkey and also registered her personal best in 200m (22.89s) in a meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan recently.
An AFI official said Dhanalakshmi also failed a test conducted by National Anti-Doping Agency during the National Inter State meet last month. “She has tested positive for a steroid,” said an official in the know.
Dhanalakshmi was also part of the India squad for the ongoing World Championships as she made the cut in 200m through world rankings. However, her name was missing from WA’s final entry list. The sprinter had claimed that she could not go to US because she missed a visa interview.
The news of her dope test failure comes as a shocker for AFI as Dhanalakshmi was part of India’s relay squad at the Tokyo Olympics. Two Tokyo Olympians discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh failed dope tests earlier.
What should also raise eyebrows is that Dhanalakshmi was training at the national camp at the SAI centre in Thiruvananthapuram. She was part of the team of sprinters, quarter-milers and relay teams, training there ahead of the CWG.
Like Dhanalakshmi, Aishwarya Babu’s rapid improvement in jumps raised many a eyebrow. She broke Mayookha Johny’s 11-year-old national record in the triple jump with a leap of 14.14m at the Inter-State Nationals in Chennai.
Aishwarya also recorded a big 6.73m in long jump, and came in second all-time list of jumps led by none other than Anju Bobby George. Her performances saw her make it into the Commonwealth Games team. According to informed sources she failed the dope during the Inter-State meet in Chennai.
A coach said that Aishwarya had refused to join the national camp.
“She refused to join the national camp even for the CWG and she was training on her own,” said the jumps coach.
With CWG starting in a week’s time and the Asian Games scheduled next year, the Athletics Federation of India will have to work really hard to clear the doping mess.
Former India long jumper Anju Bobby George says both recent doping cases are an eye opener.
“The AFI, NADA, SAI they are doing a lot in terms of conducting more tests, educating the athletes etc, but still the athletes are taking it at the risk of their life. We should enquire how athletes are getting it and from where they are getting it. We need to probe and stop it. How is it getting inside the national camps?” said Anju George, India’s only World Championships medallists.
Anju added: “All this need to be investigated and punishment should be handed out because these are banned drugs. Everyone should be made answerable. Normally campers are vigilant but this case (Dhanalakshmi) is an eye opener that it is inside camp now. It needs to be probed properly. The athlete should be asked who gave them, how he or she got? That investigation is not happening.”
“While AFI cannot investigate, NADA can do once the Bill pending in the parliament will give them additional power,” she further said.
Asked about Aishwarya, she said that her performances was the talking point this season. “Everybody is talking about her but nobody was sure. She was not in camp but she must be training somewhere. We need to have out-of-competition tests for such athletes at regular intervals. All top athletes should be in radar. If they are missing tests, they should be out of national team,” she said.
