11 More Indian Athletes Fail Dope Tests And That Is Bad News Ahead Of The Olympics

The use of banned substances by our athletes is something that is just showing any signs of stopping. An international level gold medal-winning boxer, an Asian junior hammer-throw champion along with a World Police Games champion judoka are part of the list of 11 new sportspersons who add to the bunch of those who failed dope tests in the year of the Olympic games.

As per a report in TOI, Divya Pawar has failed the dope test for stimulant Higenamine, a specified substance. Sahe is not ok with the optional provisional suspension and is continuing to take part in the events held by the BFI. Her sample was collected during the elite national women¡¯s boxing championships in December 2019. It was tested at Qatar¡¯s anti-doping lab.

After Neeraj and Sumit Sangwan, Divya is third top boxer to have tested positive for a banned substance. She clinched gold at the International Golden Glove boxing tournament 2018 and a bronze at the AIBA Asian youth boxing championship the same year.

Hammer thrower Ashish Jakhar, who is a former Asian junior gold medallist, has tested positive for metandienone, an androgen and anabolic steroid, and was provisionally suspended. His claim to fame was setting the national record at the 2018 junior national Federation Cup.

Vishal Ruhil won gold in World Police Games 2019 and took part in the the Judo Worlds last year and now has tested positive for dimethyl butylamine. He has not also accepted the provisional suspension.

Others to have failed dope tests and provisionally suspended include the reigning 81kg junior national weightlifting champion, Telangana¡¯s Nihal Raj; silver medal-winner wrestler at the 2017 Commonwealth championships, Roubaljeet Singh (97kg freestyle); and 800m runner Rakhi Singh, who won a silver (U-20 girls) at the 2019 junior nationals, among others.

Four minor athletes, too, have failed dope tests for drugs including stanozolol and metandienone.

With the Olympics just over 5 months away, this is not good news for us. It remains to be seen if there are more. One hopes steps are taken to curb doping on a large scale. But truth be told, it is easier said than done.