Manpreet in dope net

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 19

India’s leading shot-putter and Asian champion Manpreet Kaur has failed the dope test for a banned stimulant, putting a question mark over her participation at next month’s World Championships in London.

Manpreet, who hails from Haryana’s Ambala, returned positive for stimulant Dimethylbutylamine, a “specified substance” under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) code.

Manpreet was tested in-competition by a National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) team during the Federation Cup in Patiala in June.

Manpreet runs the risk of getting banned for a period of two to four years if she fails to prove her innocence in front of a NADA disciplinary panel, which would soon be constituted once she challenges the NADA findings in a written statement.

Manpreet hasn’t been provisionally suspended by the NADA since Dimethylbutylamine falls under the specified substance category. However, she could lose her gold medal won at the Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar if her confirmatory urine ‘B’ sample also returns positive.

First such case in India

NADA director general Navin Agarwal said that Manpreet’s is the first case in which the banned substance Dimethylbutylamine has been found in the urine sample of an Indian athlete. “This is the first time the NADA has come across such a case,” Agarwal told The Tribune.

“Dimethylbutylamine doesn’t necessarily boost your power or enhance your performance level. It’s more a “feel-good” drug, a mood-lifter which makes you feel happy. You approach the competition feeling energised,” he added.

Dimethylbutylamine is related to another stimulant — methylhexanamine — which was understood to have been used by several sportspersons just before the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

World Championships participation in doubt

Manpreet’s husband, Karamjeet, who is also her coach, informed that they haven’t thought about the shot-putter’s participation in the World Championships in the wake of this development. “We would be talking to the AFI office-bearers and then take a decision in this regard. We don’t know how this drug entered her system. She is clean,” he said.

Manpreet qualified for the World Championships after setting a national record in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix meet in Xinhua, China, in April. Her effort of 18.86m not only fetched her the gold medal, but also saw her climb to the world No. 1 position in the shot-put category. She followed it up with gold at the Federation Cup, Asian Championships (with a throw of 18.28m) and recently-concluded National Inter-State Championships.