The Hindu : Sport : Suspended athletes compete

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Friday, Jan 18, 2008
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Suspended athletes compete

G. Prasad

CHIDAMBARAM: Two of the athletes suspended by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on doping charges, D. Bharatha Reddy of Acharya Nagarjuna University and Jasmin Joseph of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, competed in the all-India inter-university athletics championship here on Wednesday, exposing the anti-doping system.

Both Reddy and Jasmin were among the 10 athletes charged with doping violations at last year’s inter-university meet in Bangalore. Jasmin was also found positive at the National Games in Guwahati last February for which she was suspended by the AFI. Her suspension runs up to May 6, 2009. Her name has been included in the 2007 list of suspended athletes released by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

The Kerala athlete who won the 400m gold in the last National Games had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in the WADA-accredited laboratory in Bangkok.

Reddy who competed in the 400 metres here, winning the silver in 49.04 seconds, has been under provisional suspension and his case is pending with the AFI. He had won the 400 metres last year, but tested positive for steroid stanozolol. Subsequently he challenged the AFI decision in the Delhi High Court, which ruled that he should explain all his arguments before the AFI panel.

MGU which fielded Jasmin in the qualification round of the women’s 4x400m relay on Wednesday was initially disqualified following a protest by Calicut University and then re-instated in Thursday’s final, which it eventually won, following a counter protest.

Dr. K. Vaithianathan, Dean, Faculty of Education, Annamalai University and the organising secretary of the championship, said “According to the AFI rules, a protest has to be filed within 30 minutes of the official announcement of the result. But Calicut University lodged a protest after almost a day. Hence the protest is not valid. Still for fielding a banned athlete we had to disqualify the MG University 4 x 400m women’s relay team,” Mr. Vaithianathan said.

MGU protested that the AFI regulations were not of consequence for the meet and its relay team was re-instated with the understanding that a final decision would be taken by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). Pending that decision, the women’s team championship as well as the overall championship was withheld. Jasmin did not compete in the final.

“We did not get any information from the AIU or from AFI regarding her ban. Hence we allowed Jasmin to take part,” Mr. Vaithianathan said.

New Delhi Special Correspondent adds

Concerned by the developments at Chidambaram, the AFI on Thursday evening stated that it would issue a show cause notice to the AIU, one of its constituent units, if the report about the two banned athletes being allowed to compete was true.

“Our constituent units are expected to follow our rules and regulations. Even though the inter-University meet is not directly conducted by us the ban on athletes (under doping rules) involves all competitions,” said AFI Secretary Lalit K. Bhanot.

Competing while being ineligible following a doping-related suspension is considered another offence under the rules.

Mr. Bhanot said the AFI would look into this aspect in the case of both the athletes. A second offence, if established, can result in a life ban.

Reddy’s ‘B’ sample test is still pending. Following the court order, the AFI wrote to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) that as per the athlete’s demand the ‘B’ sample should be tested in an accredited laboratory but the latter has put the ball back in the federation’s court saying that it had no role to play.

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