Dutee Chand suspended after failing dope test

New Delhi, January 18

In a big setback for Indian athletics, the country’s fastest woman sprinter, Dutee Chand, has been provisionally suspended after her samples showed presence of banned substances.

Traces of andarine, ostarine — which are among the most popular selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) used as performance-enhancing drugs by athletes — and ligandrol were found in her sample, taken in Bhubaneswar on December 5.

SARMs are types of supplement that help build muscle mass and burn fat. The sprinter was informed about adverse analytical finding (AAF) from her ‘A’ sample on January 3.

Dutee had the option of getting her ‘B’ sample tested within seven days from the date of receiving the AAF report. After failing to ask for it, the sprinter was issued with the provisional suspension.

Dutee, who holds the national 100m record of 11.17 seconds set in 2021, is the fourth sprinter after S Dhanalashmi, MV Jilna and Taranjeet Kaur to be caught in the dope net in the last one year. Dutee will now have to appear before the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) anti-doping disciplinary panel (ADDP) to prove her innocence. If found guilty, she faces a suspension for a period of up to four years.

The suspension of the 26-year-old Dutee, a double silver medallist at the 2018 Asian Games, comes as a huge blow to India in the year of the Asian Games.

In the past, she had been banned by athletics’ global governing body for failing to meet the regulations for women athletes with hyperandrogenism and high testosterone levels.