×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Ashwini gets one-year ban

Olympic dream all but over for Asiad champ, five other athletes
Last Updated 23 December 2011, 12:45 IST
ADVERTISEMENT

Six top quartermilers including Asian Games gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, who failed dope tests earlier this year, were each handed a one-year suspension by the National Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel on Friday.

The panel, headed by former district judge Dinesh Dayal, acknowledged that the athletes did not take the banned substances intentionally, thus reducing their penalty from a standard two years to one. The sanction will commence from the dates of provisional suspension of the athletes by NADA, more or less ending their Olympic dreams.

Besides Ashwini, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose, part of the relay quartet which won the gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, Jauna Murmu, Tiana Mary Thomas and Priyanka Panwar had failed dope tests conducted in May and June this year. While all the athletes tested postive for methandienone, Mandeep and Tiana also failed tests for stanozolol.

The athletes, represented by the lawyer R K Anand, had argued that they ingested the banned substance through a contaminated food supplement, Ginseg kianpi pill,  which was brought by their 74-year-old coach Yuri Ogorodnik at the Asian Games Village in Guangzhou. Ginseng is not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but in this case the substance was found to be contaminated with methandienone and stanozolol. While Anand was able to able establish that the athletes took the steroids owing to negligence, the panel found them guilty of violating WADA Code’s Article 2.1.1 which states: “It is each athlete’s personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his or her body. Athletes are responsible for any prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers found to be present in their samples.

“Accordingly, it is not necessary that intent, fault, negligence or knowing use on the athlete’s part be demonstrated in order to establish an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.1.” The panel, applying the no-significant fault clause in this case to go for a milder sentence, said that the adverse analytical findings were a result of the contaminated food supplement, namely Ginseng Kianpi pill, given to them by Ogorodnik.
The suspension period of Ashwini and Priyanka began on July 4 while of Sini and Tiana on June 30.  Mandeep and Jauna’s suspension period started on June 23.

The Olympic qualification period relays ends on July 2 while for individual events, the deadline is July 8.

The athletes will also have to undergo reinstatement tests prior to their return to competition, virtually ending their hopes of running in London. In the case of Mandeep and Jauna, the one-year bans can be appealed against by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).  The two had flunked dope tests conducted by the world body as well.

Ashwini relieved

Reacting to the verdict, Ashwini, winner of the 400M hurdles gold at the 2010 Asiad, said though she was relieved she didn’t get a two-year ban, she would consider appealing against it over the next three days after consulting her lawyer. She felt a two-year ban would have meant a virtual end to her career but was hopeful of making a return in the current circumstances. Long jumper Harikrishnan M, who had tested positive for a banned steroid, was handed a two-year ban by the NADA panel.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 23 December 2011, 07:13 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT