In a belated move, two of the six suspended female 400m runners, Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu, have approached the National Anti-Doping Appeal panel (NADAP) seeking relief.
Though there is no provision for an ‘international-level' athlete to file an appeal with the National-level appeal panel under the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) rules or the WADA Code, the athletes have filed an appeal all the same, seeking annulment of the decision given by the disciplinary panel.
The disciplinary panel had ordered a one-year suspension for these two athletes, along with a similar sanction for four other athletes, in its verdict on December 23 last. All six were reported for steroid violations.
The other four — Ashwini A.C., Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas — appealed to the NADAP and managed to get their suspensions backdated in order to clear the way for their participation in at least a few races towards Olympic qualification.
The four athletes later approached Delhi High Court for further relief including quashing of the NADAP order and a directive to the Union Government to make available training facility towards their Olympic preparations.
The plea regarding training facility was granted by the court and the case posted for May 15. Mandeep and Murmu were not part of that petition since their cases were never appealed to the disciplinary panel. The IAAF had filed an appeal before the CAS regarding Mandeep and Murmu even as it was waiting for the NADAP to give its verdict about the other four athletes.
