Dharambir banned for 8 years

Sabi Hussain

New Delhi, October 13

Haryana’s dope-tainted athlete Dharambir Singh has been banned for eight years by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing a drug test during the inter-state athletics meet in Hyderabad in June-July.

The 27-year-old from Rohtak, who had become the first Indian male sprinter in 36 years to qualify for the Olympics after clocking 20.45s in 200m at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru on July 11, was found guilty of using a banned anabolic steroid by a NADA disciplinary panel, which has reserved its order into the case.

This was Dharambir’s second dope offence after he was earlier stripped of his 100m gold medal in the National Inter-State Championships in 2012. He had tested positive for anabolic steroid Stanozolol and was banned for two years. He made a sensational comeback at the 2015 Kerala National Games, winning the 200m gold in national record time. 

According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, he had been staring at a punishment from eight years up to a life ban for a second offence.

The NADA panel had offered Dharambir the option to get his ‘B’ sample (urine) tested, but he refused.

According to a reliable source, Dharambir even allegedly lied to the NADA panel that he had tested negative during an invitational meet in Thailand on July 6, four days after his urine sample from the inter-state meet was collected. But the panel found out that Dharambir had never been tested in-competition by Thailand’s anti-doping watchdog.

His misleading statement led to further weakening of his defence as the panel slapped him with a ban that has virtually ended his career.

Dharambir, who had qualified for Rio with a national record by beating the Olympics qualifying mark by .05s, had been stopped from boarding the flight to Rio at the last moment by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) after learning about his dope failure.

He had been under NADA’s radar for long. NADA had its apprehensions about his improved performances in the months leading up to Rio.

Dharambir also skipped the national camps organised by AFI and trained with his personal coach in Rohtak.

Dharambir was the second Rio-bound track and field athlete after shot-putter Inderjeet Singh to have returned positive. Inderjeet failed a dope test for two banned anabolic substances and his hearing is underway.