Athletics
Hima Das gets clean chit from NADA's Anti-Doping Appeal Panel
Sprinter Hima Das was officially cleared from her whereabouts failures charges by NADA's Anti-Doping Appeal Panel.
A closer look a the timeline suggests that Hima Das might have competed while serving a suspension. (File Photo)
Star India sprinter Hima Das has been cleared by the NADA's Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) which exonerated her from doping charges arising out of three whereabouts failures in 12 months.
24-year-old Hima was suspended provisionally last year by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for three consecutive whereabouts failures in 12 months.
She returned to action in 200m at the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru on April 30 but failed to finish the event. She was also present at the Inter-State Athletics Championships before the Olympics.
In a September 4 decision, the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel upheld the Disciplinary Panel's ruling to clear her of doping charges.
"The ADDP order is upheld. Athlete exonerated from doping charges" stated the latest update on ADAP decisions on the NADA website.
No further details were available regarding who appealed the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel's decision, but NADA likely initiated the appeal as the body has previously appealed in such cases when decisions favoured athletes.
The runner from Assam was not named in the Hangzhou Asian Games team last year due to an injury she had sustained earlier this year.
In September last year, it had come to light that Hima committed three whereabouts failures in one year and she was provisionally suspended by the NADA.
At that time also, there was no clarity on whether Hima's whereabouts failure related to filing or missed test.
What is Whereabouts failure?
One of the anti-doping violations is ‘whereabouts failure’. It is a combination of three ‘filing failures’ or ‘missed tests’ within 12 months that makes a ‘whereabouts failure’.
An athlete needs to update their accurate information on their whereabouts every quarter so that they can be located for out-of-competition testing.
Athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide the full address for their overnight location, the name and full address of each location where they train, work or conduct other regular scheduled activities, as well as the usual time-frames of each activity.
RTP athletes must also identify a 60-minute window and location for each day of the quarter, during which they must be available for testing. Failure to comply with whereabouts and testing obligations results in a whereabouts failure.
