In what could be another rude shock to Indian sporting fraternity, six university girls have been caught for using banned substance during the All India inter-varsity weightlifting competition held in the first week of March in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

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In a first of its case at the university level, the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) carried out sampling during the tournament and the results have shown that out of the six, four girls are from the Punjabi University, Patiala, while one each is from Delhi and Andhra University.

According to a NADA insider, all these girls have claimed innocence and hinted at conspiracy.

"As per the standard procedure, all the girls, being first timers, will get a chance to defend themselves," said an official.

Shivali Sharma of Punjabi University (PU) has been caught for the use of Methylhexanamine and steroid while her varsity mates Neha Dhawan, Preety and Rajvinder Kaur were found with steroid Methandienone substance in their blood. Andhra's K Tulasi and Delhi's Deepika Shripal tested positive for MHA and diuretics furosemide, respectively.

All the six had won medals during the championship. dna has learnt that after the four PU girls came to know about their failed dope test, they immediately rushed to the concerned authorities and narrated their side of story.

"NADA has recorded their statement where all these four girls have named one of their roommate, who was apparently not selected in the university team for the event in Coimbatore, for all this. The steroid found in all the four girls' system is common in this case," said an official.

According to Neha, all four girls were initially stopped from taking the university exams but after the Indian Weightlifting Federation stepped in, their roll numbers have now been allotted.

"NADA is now waiting for the B sample result and any further inquiry will only resume after the exams," IWF vice-president Sahdev Yadav said on Monday.

Yadav further raised an alarm over such an incident at the university level and called for educating the athletes at the very start of their competitive career.

"Awareness regarding the use of any banned substance needs to start at the very beginning. IWF has zero tolerance policy towards dope cheats but lifters at the sub-junior and junior levels need guidance at the beginning of their careers to be aware of the consequences," added Yadav.