Indian sprinter Himani Chandel on Wednesday became the latest athlete to be suspended for four years due to a doping offence. This suspension comes into effect from June 15, 2023.
Chandel tests positive for Drostanolone
After setting a personal record in the 100 meters with a time of 11:69 seconds at the 26th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships in Ranchi, May 2023, Chandel tested positive for the steroid Drostanolone. She had originally been selected for the Indian 4×100 team for the Asian championships in Bangkok because of this performance. But after it was discovered that she had doped, the team dismissed her and another athlete Archana Suseendran who had also been found guilty of doping.
Doping a growing concern
With a mounting list of doping offenses, Indian athletics has suffered a serious setback with Chandel’s suspension. Dutee Chand, Dhanalakshmi Sekhar, Archana Suseendran, and M.V Jilna, Diandra Valladares, Taranjeet Kaur, and Kamaljeet Kaur are among the other well-known athletes who are presently serving suspensions. This trend is concerning and suggests that in order to stop similar incidents from happening in the future, testing procedures should be tightened and awareness raised.
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As per a report published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), India has overtaken Russia as the top drug offender. India tested 3,865 urine, blood, and dried blood spot (DBS) samples in total in 2022 during the selection period that ran from January 1 to December 31. Of these, 125 yielded Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs), 49 of which were samples related to athletics.
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