India’s top quarter-milers — Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar, Juana Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas — who had tested positive for banned substances hoped to escape with a one-year ban dished out by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA).
The ban virtually shattered their Olympic dreams. As if that wasn’t enough, the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has demanded that they be suspended for two years.
The athletes were handed a reduced punishment, a one-year ban, since they “were not found guilty of intentionally taking the banned substances”.
NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar said the WADA had filed an appeal against the reduced penalty and the matter would come up before the NADA appellate panel on February 15. “WADA has filed an appeal seeking a harsher punishment of two years under the rules.
According to WADA’s contention, the athletes should not have been handed lighter punishment on the ground that they didn’t know they were taking banned substances,” Bhatnagar said.
“What WADA says is that under the rules the athletes will have to bear the responsibility, regardless of whether he or she had taken the banned substances intentionally or unintentionally. The fact that banned substances were present in their urine sample should be enough to attract a maximum two-year ban for a first-time offender. This is what the WADA appeal meant,” he said.
The International Association of Athletics Federation is also expected to file an appeal against the one-year bans handed out to Kaur and Murmu.
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