Jumper Aishwarya banned for 4 years

New Delhi, March 1

India’s top triple-jumper Aishwarya Babu has been banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) disciplinary panel for four years for using a prohibited anabolic steroid.

The 25-year-old Babu was dropped from the Birmingham CWG last year along with sprinter S Dhanalakshmi after testing positive for the steroid, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) prohibited list.

Aishwarya has time till Monday to file an appeal against the ban after receiving the notice from the NADA’s Appeal Panel on February 13.

The athlete tested positive for ostarine — a drug that falls in the category of selective androgen receptor modulator (SRAM) — during the National Inter-State Championships, held in June in Chennai. Babu had won the triple jump gold at the championships with a national record-breaking lunge of 14.14 metres. Having been provisionally suspended in July last year, Babu has already served six months of her four-year ban.