Weightlifter K Sanjita Chanu fails dope test

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, January 6

Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) chief Sahdev Yadav had made a sensational claim to this correspondent during the National Games last October, when he said a lot of weightlifters don’t join national camps in order to dope-up before domestic tournaments.

Yadav’s statement has been substantiated as K Sanjita Chanu, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist — and winner of silver behind Mirabai Chanu in the 49kg category at the National Games — has been provisionally suspended for a doping offence.

Sanjita’s sample was taken on September 30, the day she lifted a total of 187kg to finish second. Both her ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples have shown the presence of Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid that is in the specified list of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list.

Sanjita, who will now have to appear before the anti-doping disciplinary panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency, can get a four-year suspension for this offence. If found guilty, she stands to lose her National Games silver. Previously, Sanjita was erroneously banned by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) in June 2018 after her samples taken during the 2017 World Championships showed the presence of testosterone. Sanjita had claimed a ‘conspiracy’ behind that offence and was given the all-clear by the IWF in January 2019, through a letter by its legal counsel Dr Eva Nyirfa.

‘Sad day’

IWLF president Yadav is devastated with the new development. “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,” Yadav 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.