New Delhi/ Bhubaneswar: Dutee Chand, India’s fastest woman athlete, who holds the national 100m record of a sensational 11.17s, has been banned for four years from all levels of athletics for failing two out-of-competition dope tests for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in December 2022.
The ban period will be effective from January 3, 2023.
The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) chairperson Chaitanya Mahajan in his order passed on Thursday said that Dutee will be disqualified from the period, “all the competitive results obtained by the athlete from the date of her sample collection – December 5, 2022, with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points, and prizes.
The ADDP further said, “The athlete though has satisfied the panel with the source of ingestion of the prohibited substance but was not able to establish the no significant fault or negligence. In view of the totality of circumstances, the athlete has failed to establish that the said anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was unintentional as the athlete instead of consulting a physician allegedly consulted her physiotherapist and consumed the medicines prescribed by her; the athlete did not check the label with respect to the contents of the medicine consumed by her; and the athlete didn’t cross check the contents of the drugs with the latest published lists of prohibited substances by WADA.”
“The athlete has violated Articles 2.1 and 2.2 of the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA)… she is hereby sanctioned with an ineligibility period of four years as per article 10.2.1.1 of the NADA ADR 2021 beginning from the date of provisional suspension i.e. January 3, 2023. It shall be noted that the athlete has failed to satisfy the panel that the ADRV was non-intentional as per article 10.2.1.1 of the NADA ADR 2021,” Mahajan said in his order.
Dutee, who won two silver medals at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in 100m and 200m races, was tested twice on December 5 and 26, 2022, by Nada’s dope control officers in Bhubaneswar. While her first sample revealed the presence of anabolic agents such as andarine, ostarine, and ligandrol, the second sample had traces of andarine and ostarine.
Although Dutee had the option of going for her ‘B’ sample testing within a period of seven days from the date of receiving the adverse analytical finding (AAF) notice, she didn’t go for it. As a result, Nada has imposed a provisional suspension banning her from all athletic competitions for four years.
Now, Dutee has 21 days to file an appeal with the anti-doping appeal panel (ADAP) from the date of receipt of the decision by the appealing party.
