CHENNAI: Athletics has once again topped a list for all the wrong reasons. The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) updated its list of athletes who have been banned after the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel hearing and at least nine athletes from the list have been slapped with four-year suspensions after returning positive for banned substances.
Going by the updated list, 18 athletes, apart from long jumper Aishwarya B, have been found guilty of using the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of prohibited substances. Even the substance they have tested positive seemed to range from peptide hormones, dEPO to SARM (Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator). This daily had highlighted the rise in use of hormones and SARMs by athletes.
There are two athletes – middle and long-distance runners Pallavi Jagadale and Amandeep who have been slapped with a four-year ban for use of darbepoetin, while two, including long jumper Aishwarya B, have been banned for use of SARM, a substance that has not been approved for human consumption by most countries. Radha and Reena Sharma tested positive for peptide hormone. Among steroids, mentandienone and stanazolol are still used by athletes. Interestingly, some of the cases are close to one-year old.