Now, Manpreet tests positive for a steroid

Manpreet Kaur has tested positive for a steroid, just two days after the news of the shot-putter turning positive for a stimulant hit Indian athletics.

Manpreet, who had tested positive for stimulant dimethylbutylamine in the Federation Cup, has now also tested positive for a steroid in the sample taken at the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Meet at Jinhua in China on April 24. She also tested positive for the same stimulant that was detected in her urine sample at Patiala.

The reason for a delay of more than two months in confirming the news of her positive test in China was not explained by the Athletics Federation of India on Thursday.

It was turning out to be a stellar year for the 27-year-old Punjab athlete who in Jinhua had thrown to a distance of 18.86m to win the gold medal and clinch the World Championships berth. She then went on to win gold medals in the Federation Cup at Patiala, the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar and in the just-concluded inter-sate championships at Guntur. The AFI president Adille Sumariwalla confirmed her positive tests and said they were notified about the second positive result on Wednesday night. “She automatically stands suspended and would be dropped from the World Championships team,” Sumariwalla told DH.

Another AFI official contended that it was not a surprising development. “Such sudden spikes in performances always draw suspicion of NADA and WADA. It wasn’t surprising at all. But yes, AFI is very concerned with the increasing number of doping cases.”
Manpreet, who is now provisionally suspended, faces a ban of four years unless she is able to establish that she had ingested the steroid unintentionally.

It is expected that her two violations, at Patiala and Jinhua, would be taken up together by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel in India. As for the two different substances the one with the more severe sanction would prevail in case infractions for both the substances are proved.