Akkunji & Co lose doping case in CAS, banned for 2 yrs

New Delhi: Six Indian women athletes, who were caught for steroid doping last year, lost their case in the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, as it upheld the IAAF’s appeal to impose two-year ban on them. A NADA panel had handed a lenient one-year ban on the six quartermilers, including Asian Games double gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, on the ground that they did not know that the food supplement they have been provided by their coach contained prohibited substance. [caption id=“attachment_381172” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Besides Akkunji (pic above), the other five are 4X400m relay quartet members Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur and three other quartermilers Priyanka Panwar, Juana Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas. Reuters[/caption] But the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) filed an appeal to the CAS against the NADA panel decision, stating that the athletes should not be given any lenient treatment and they should be banned for two years provided under the rules. The CAS yesterday decided the case in favour of the IAAF and the athletes will serve a two-year ban. “The IAAF’s appeal has been upheld by CAS and the six Indian athletes have lost their case. The operative part is not known and it will come later,” an Athletics Federation of India source told PTI. Besides Akkunji, the other five are 4X400m relay quartet members Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur and three other quartermilers Priyanka Panwar, Juana Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas. The period of their one-year ban by the NADA panel ended last month. The relay quartet of Akkunji, Mandeep, Sini and Manjeet Kaur won gold in the 2010 Commonwealth Games here and the Asian Games in China a month later. Akkunji became the toast of the country after she also won the 400m hurdles in the Asian Games, only to be caught for doping later. Manjeet ended her career after she allegedly refused to give samples to NADA officials in Patiala. PTI