DP Manu was trapped in doping case, claims coach Kashinath Naik

Indian athletics fraternity was shocked when young Javelin Thrower DP Manu was banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency in June, weeks before the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Manu was tested for an anabolic steroid and was provisionally banned by NADA which barred him from taking part in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in June, the last qualifying event for Paris Olympics.

With Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena earning direct qualifications, Manu was on the way to becoming the third Indian javelin thrower to feature in the Olympics via ranking.

But the doping ban meant his dreams of playing at the Olympics were shattered weeks before.

However, his long-time coach Kasinath Naik believes that Manu's Olympic dream was sabotaged and they are planning to take the legal route to get him justice.

"DP Manu has been trapped in a fake doping and steroid case. Deliberately it has been done by someone. I am confident that Manu never took steroids," Kashinath told NNIS Sports on the sidelines of the ongoing National Open Athletics Championships.

"As a coach, I have been with the Indian team for over five years. I have always promoted clean sports. I have coached the likes of Davinder Singh Kang, Shivpal Singh, Neeraj Chopra, and Annu Rani as the Indian team coach till 2019 and nothing like this happened ever," he added further.

When asked how is Manu feeling now and what the further plans are, Kasinath revealed that they will be taking the legal route to get justice for Manu.

"Manu is sad and he is unable to talk about this. He is suffering despite making no mistake and all of this happened so close to the Olympics," he said.

"We are fighting at the moment and we are planning to take it to the courts so that Manu gets justice," he concluded.