New Delhi:
India's 20-km road race walker Rani Yadav has tested positive for a banned anabolic agent and been provisionally suspended from the Commonwealth Games.
The shamed athlete, who finished sixth in the walk race conducted on October 8 in 1 hour, 42 minutes, 54 seconds, would either attend or will be represented at a provisional hearing before the Commonwealth Games Federation Court later on Thursday, a statement from the CGF said. (
Read: Other nandrolone cheats)
The CGF said its President Michael Fennell announced at a media conference this morning that an Indian athlete had returned an adverse analytical finding.
"Subsequently, the CGF has received confirmation from the Indian Chef de Mission, that the athlete has been duly notified of the result, as per the CGF Anti-Doping Standard (ADS) for the XIX Commonwealth Games.
"The CGF can now confirm that the A sample of Ms Rani Yadav, a competitor in the womens 20 kilometre road race on October 9, 2010, was found to contain 19-Norandrosterone, a prohibited Anabolic Agent under category S1 of the WADA List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.
"Ms Yadav has been provisionally suspended from the Games and, in accordance with the ADS, the athlete will attend, or be represented, at a Provisional Hearing before the CGF Federation Court later today."
"We have received another positive result. The notice has been issued to the (Indian) chef de mission (Bhubaneshwar Kalita) at 9 am today," Fennell told the customary morning press conference.
OC secretary-general Lalit Bhanot described the positive dope test returned by an Indian athlete as "unfortunate" and said this shame has happened despite everyone's best effort to avoid it.
"It's unfortunate. We tried our level best. Not just the federations, but NADA (National Anti Doping Agency) and government authorities are very serious about this issue. We have done out of competition as well in-competitions tests," he said.
"It's a difficult situation. It's unfortunate. We are hosts, we took precautions. But it has happened unfortunately," Bhanot added.
This is the third doping scandal to hit the Games after Nigerian athletes women's 100m gold medallist Osayemi Oludamola and 110m hurdler Samuel Okon tested positive for stimulant Methylhexaneamine.
Oludamola has since then been stripped of the gold while Okon finished outside the medal bracket.
On the three doping cases that have rocked the tail end of the Games, Fennell said that everyone would concede that 3 positive dope tests out of 1300 tests is not a bad record.
"Two of them were not in serious area of doping activity which is a stimulant...We would like to have a zero factor but we (also would have to live with reality," he said.
Fennell said further that coaches and athletes, in particular, need to be educated about what to take and what not to take in their food.
"It demonstrates that we all administrators need to increase educational activities, in particular coaches and athletes. What is required is how they can be prevented".
Asked whether Nigerian sprinter Osayemi had claimed she had taken the stimulant unknowingly, Fennell said she did not make any specific claims but expressed extreme regret.
"No, she didn't make any specific claim except for expressing extreme regret. She also said about her desire to clean up although she did say she was unaware of the substance," the CGF president said.