India’s most experienced weightlifter and two-time Commonwealth Games medallist, CPR Sudhir Kumar, tested positive during the February’s All India Inter Services Championship being held in Chandigarh.
In a sample taken by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) during the meet, Kumar has been caught for using steroid Mephentermine.
Employed with Indian Navy, Kumar was bestowed with Ekalavya Award last year by the Karnataka government for his outstanding performances in various international competitions.
Mephentermine is a cardiac stimulant, formerly used in Wyamine nasal decongestant inhalers and before that as a stimulant in psychiatry. Not just this, the testosterone levels in the weightlifter’s body has also been found abnormally high. A source in NADA told dna that the level of testosterone in Kumar's body was 102.7, which is way higher than the one found in a normal athlete.
Kumar will now be asked to present his side of explanation. Failing which, he will be banned for two years.
The weightlifter won bronze in the men’s 69kg category at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne with a combined lift of 287kg. In the 2010 CWG in Delhi, his bronze put India in the elite Commonwealth countries to have won 300-plus medals in the Games' history. His bronze, with a lift of 297 kg, was also a landmark for the iron sport of lifting as the men’s 77-kg medal was the host’s 100th medal in weightlifting.
Indian Weightlifting Federation vice-president Sahdev Yadav confirmed the news and said that “the onus is now on Kumar to prove his innocence before the NADA hearing panel”.
This is yet another jolt to the IWF in the recent months after Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Rupinder Singh was caught during the All India Police Games in Ranchi for the second time in mid-February and is now facing life ban.
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