Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sanjita Chanu fails dope test, provisionally suspended

Weightlifter Sanjita Chanu, who won the gold medals at the 2014 Glasgow and the 2018 Gold Coast events in the women’s 48 kg and 53 kg weight category respectively, is among the top sportspersons who have failed a dope test and has been provisionally suspended.

Notably, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has added more than 20 new names to the list of provisionally suspended athletes since January 2022, and Sanjita, who bagged a silver medal in the 49kg category at the recently held National Games, is one of the names on the list.

The 29-year-old tested positive for the presence of Drostanolone Metabolite, an anabolic steroid that is on the specified list of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list.

Sanjita will now have to appear before the anti-doping disciplinary panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency to prove her innocence. However, if the weightlifter is found guilty, she can get a four-year suspension for the offense and also stands to lose her National Games silver.

“I am very sad that such a senior lifter, one who has won us two Commonwealth Games medals, has been caught in the dope net,” Sahdev Yadav, president of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, told The Tribune.

“Incidents like this only tarnish the image of our sport. Everyone knows that we have a strict policy towards dope cheats. We periodically get our lifters tested during camps and tournaments and there have been times when many of them have been asked to give out-of-competition samples. But we do get setbacks like this,” he added.

It is worth noting that Sanjita was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in June 2018 after she returned a positive result for an anabolic steroid in an out-of-competition test in the run-up to the World Championships in Anaheim, USA, in November 2017. However, Sanjita had claimed a ‘conspiracy’ behind the offense and was given the clean chit by the IWF in January 2019.

Meanwhile, three more lifters – Veerjeet Kaur, Poorani Sri, and Ashish are on the list of provisionally suspended athletes, while three kabaddi players Shivam Chaudhary, Rajnesh, and Mohit Pahal, Judoka Navroop Kaur, few wrestlers - Deepanshu, Ravi, Ravi Raj Dhamaraj Chavan, Mahesh KP, Sandeep, sprinters S Dhanalakshmi, Diandra Valladares and hurdler Gudiya are also on the list.

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