Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) India’s six women quarter-milers, including Asian Games double gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, were Friday banned for one year by the national anti-doping disciplinary panel and their hopes of running in the 2012 London Olympics were hanging by a thin thread.

Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Juana Murmu, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas were the other athletes banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Ashwini, Mandeep, Sini, Priyanka and Tiana had tested positive for stanozolol and epimethandiol while Murmu’s test showed traces of epimethandiol. None of them was present when the verdict was pronounced.

They were all tested in May-June and provisionally suspended. Their Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorobonik was sacked and left the country in disgrace.

Chairman of the three-member anti-doping disciplinary panel Justice (retd) Dinesh Dayal, reading out the judgment here at the headquarters of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), said the six athletes have been suspended for a year. Hockey Olympian Ashok Kumar and Dr. N.K. Khadiya were the other members of the panel.

“The six athletes have been suspended for a year. The period of suspension is effective from today. But the term of provisional suspension will also be taken into consideration,” said Dayal.

Mandeep and Murmu were tested in the last week of May while the others were tested during the second fortnight of June. The ban will come into effect from the date of their suspension, that is from the last week of June for most of them. The athletes can still hope to compete in the July 27-Aug 12 London Olympics.

Ashwini, Mandeep and Sini were part of the famed women’s 4×400m relay team that won the gold medal in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games and the Guangzhou Asian Games, both in 2010. Ashwini also won the gold in the 400 metres hurdles at the Asian Games.

The cut-off date for Olympic qualification for athletes is July 8 and the relay teams July 2. To qualify for the Games, the relay teams should have run enough international races and the average of two best timings should make them come within the top 16 teams in the world.

The government was trying to get a lighter sentence to the athletes keeping the London Olympics in view and the executive committee of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had got a hint of the government’s intentions.