CHENNAI: It's always fascinating to read orders published by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP). The excuses athletes present and explanations they provide to the panel are not just amusing but also bewildering. A few of the latest ADDP orders published on the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) website seemed to be following the same narrative.
There have been instances when athletes blamed it on pork and other red meat in previous cases. But this time a judoka has blamed the adverse analytical finding on consuming chicken. He submitted that “he ate chicken in the camp, which might have been spiked by stanozolol to increase its size and weight”.
Take for instance the case of sprinter Sanjeet (Singh). He has been banned for eight years for a second offence for the same substance he was penalized for four years in 2018 (date of infraction). Within months of returning to competition, Sanjeet tested positive for “Hormone and Metabolic Modulators/GW1516 Sulfon”. Though he was banned for four years by ADDP from January 15, 2019, the Anti-Doping Appeals Panel amended the commencement date to September 19, 2018. According to the order dated 27.12.2023 he tested positive during the Indian Grand Prix 2 in Thiruvananthapuram on 27.03.2023 where he clocked the best time.
Though the athlete appealed to the panel to reduce his ban by one year for early acceptance, the panel overturned it. “According to Article 10.8.1 of the NADR 2021, the Panel founds that the Athlete did not submit the Acceptance of Consequences Form within the required 20-day period following the Notice of Charge dated 15.06.2023. As a result, the Athlete is not eligible for the benefit provided under this article,” said the order.
Meanwhile, the claims made by two Hangzhou Asian Games-bound judokas who were part of a national camp in National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) in Bhopal seemed even more amusing. The two tested positive and were eventually dropped from the team. During their submission to the ADDP, they blamed the coaches or insiders for lacing their food/drinks with banned substances.
The panel rejected their appeal. Sevta, who tested positive for Anabolic Androgenic Steroid (AAS)/Oxandrolone and Stanozolol, said that since “four out of the eight tested athletes from the camp tested positive… It is pertinent to note that the athletes who have tested positive have been given handmade protein bars by the coaches present in the camp, prior to the day of testing.” He went on to add, “since the day of joining the camp, they were under supervision of the coaches and therefore, there is all possibility that someone from inside the camp has mixed their food with prohibited substances.”
The appeals panel rejected his claims saying, “The test reports/results submitted by NADA shows that in total 9 athletes from the camp were subjected to dope test and out of these 9 athletes only 3 athletes were found positive for doping and it was only the present athlete whose reports disclosed use of Oxandrolone and Stanozolol – an "anabolic" steroid. The other two athletes were found to have used completely different anabolic steroids from the one used by the present athlete.” The ADDP said that this falsified the claim that he tested positive because of the protein bar and consuming chicken in the camp.
The other judoka Mohsin Gulab Ali has gone one step ahead and alleged sabotage by Yashpal Solanki, who is the High Performance Director, (NCOE, Bhopal). According to the order dated 10.01.2024, the judoka alleged during the hearing that “the present proceedings is a result of the well-hatched conspiracy at the behest of Mr. Yashpal Solanki and his associates in injecting the prohibited substance into the Athlete. It was submitted by Counsel for the athlete that apart from the food/drinks that were being supplied in the Mess at Bhopal; no other food/drinks or medicines whatsoever were consumed by Mr. Mohsin.”
The ADDP rejected his claims as well. Solanki too called the claims frivolous and said he was not there in Bhopal when the urine samples were taken during the camp. Meanwhile, India's quartermiler Nirmala Sheoran was also handed an eight-year ban by NADA after she returned positive for a banned substance in a test conducted last year.