Sprinter Dutee Chand banned for four years for failing dope tests

Indian athlete Dutee Chand has been banned for four years for failing two out-of-competition dope tests for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in December 2022.

Dutee is India's fastest female athlete. She holds the 100m national record at 11.17s, which she achieved at the Indian Grand Prix (IGP) 4 in Patiala in June 2021.

According to a Times of India report, the ban on the Odisha athlete will be effective from January 3, 2023.

In June last year, Dutee, who won two silver in 100m and 200m in the 2018 Asian Games, recorded her season-best performance of 11.40s in the semifinals of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai but lost the gold medal to Hima Das in the final.

This year, Dutee, however, has been out of competition since January as she had been provisionally suspended by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). In a letter issued to the star Indian sprinter on January 3, NADA informed Dutee that she tested positive from a test conducted in Bhubaneswar on December 5, 2022. She again tested positive for banned substances on December 26.

The first sample showed the presence of anabolic agents andarine, ostarine and ligandrol, while the second sample found andarine and ostarine.

In his order passed on Thursday, Chaitanya Mahajan, chairman of the Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP), said, "All the competitive results obtained by the athlete from the date of her sample collection, which was December 5, 2022, shall stand disqualified with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes."

According to the ADDP, Dutee 'didn’t cross check the contents of the drugs with the latest published lists of prohibited substances by WADA', and she 'was not able to establish the no significant fault or negligence'. Moreover, Dutee, instead of seeking advice from a physician, consumed the medicines prescribed by her physiotherapist.

Dutee gives 'B' sample testing a miss

Dutee, however, did not opt for the option of going for a 'B' sample testing within a period of seven days from the date of receiving notice which resulted in provisional suspension by NADA in January.

She will now get 21 days to file a review plea with the anti-doping panel (ADAP) from the date of receiving the letter of her ban.

Dutee is currently not part of the Indian national camp.

Earlier this year, 400m champion Anjali Devi, Federation Cup gold medal-winning discus thrower Kirpal Singh and 2020 National women’s 59kg champion lifter Erra Deexitha are among the notable names who failed dope tests.

This week, Bhawna Jat, who was India’s lone female athlete in the 20km race walk at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, has been brought back home for her three whereabouts failures for dope tests within 12 months.