Professional Olympic shot putter Manpreet Kaur has been banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency for failing dope tests, The Hindu reported. The disciplinary panel has handed a four-year suspension to the Asian champion. Manpreet has been tested positive on four occasions over a period of 84 days during 2017.
Manpreet, 29, has been tested positive for an anabolic steroid (metenolone) in the Asian Grand Prix (in Jinhua, China, April 24) and for a stimulant (dimephylbutylamine) in the Federation Cup (Patiala, June 1), Asian championships (Bhubaneswar, July 6) and National inter-state championships (Guntur, July 16), according to The Hindu. She won gold in all these meets.
The panel rejected the athlete’s plea stating that she “has failed to establish the way in which the prohibited substance entered her body.”
Also, the panel, headed by Kuldeep Singh, in its order on March 29, did not find any “exceptional circumstances and/ or evidence submitted which could justify the assumption of the lack of intention.”
The Punjab-born athlete Manpreet has been suspended since July 20, 2017, and ordered disqualification of all her competitive results. This means, Manpreet is about to lose the gold she won in the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar. She will also lose her National record mark of 18.86m achieved in Jinhua. The panel decided to disqualify all her competitive results from the date of sample collection.
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"Yes, Manpreet Kaur has been suspended for four years," said NADA director general Navin Agarwal, the TOI reported. Manpreet had filed an appeal on April 4 before the ADDP against the ban. "I don't want to comment anything on this, some people are trying to sabotage my career. I have filed an appeal against the ban. My lawyers are also looking into the matter," Manpreet told TOI.
"Yes, Manpreet Kaur has been suspended for four years," said NADA director general Navin Agarwal, the TOI reported.
Her national record of 18.86m at the Jinhua Asian GP meet, which turned out to be a world-leading throw, taking her to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, now stands disqualified.
Hailing from Sahauli village from Patiala, Manpreet's father is a farmer. She was ranked ninth in the fifth IAAF World Youth Championships in 2007 at Ostrova. She also broke an 18-year-old national record in women’s shot put in 2010. In 2015, she clinched a gold medal at National Open Athletics Championship at Kolkata. She was the only Indian woman to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics in her field. Kaur won a gold in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics Meet with a national record and world season-leading effort. She gave her best shot by her throw of 18.86m. Later, she got qualified for the IAAF World Championships to be held in August in London.
Feature Image Credit: India For Sports
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