Dutee Chand gets four-year ban for failing dope test, has 3 weeks to appeal

Chand, India’s fastest woman athlete, holds the national 100m record of a sensational 11.71 seconds which she recorded in 2021 at Indian Grand Prix.

Celebrated Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has been served with a four-year ban for failing an out-of-competition dope test for selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in December last year, according to a report by the Times of India.

Chand, India’s fastest woman athlete, holds the national 100m record of a sensational 11.71 seconds, which she recorded in 2021 at the Indian Grand Prix.

The ban starts from January 3, 2023 and all the competitive results that she obtained from the date of sample collection, which was December 5, 2022, will be disqualified while she will have to forfeit the medals, points and prizes, the report said.

Chand had tested positive for prohibited anabolic steroids in January 2023 and was provisionally suspended.

The report quoted a copy of the Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) which said, “The athlete though has satisfied the panel with the source of ingestion of the prohibited substance but was not able to establish the no significant fault or negligence."

ADDP observed that the athlete has failed to prove that the rule violation was unintentional.

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“In view of the totality of circumstances, the athlete has failed to establish that the said anti doping rule violation (ADRV) was unintentional due to following reasons: 1) The athlete instead of consulting a physician allegedly consulted her physiotherapist and consumed the medicines prescribed by her. 2) The athlete did not check the label with respect to the contents of the medicine consumed by her. 3) The athlete didn’t cross check the contents of the drugs with the latest published lists of prohibited substances by WADA," the ADDP, headed by Chaitanya Mahajan, said in its order.

Chand has “violated article 2.1 and 2.2 of the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA)… she is hereby sanctioned with an ineligibility period of four years as per article 10.2.1.1 of the NADA ADR 2021 beginning from the date of provisional suspension i.e. January 3, 2023," the order further said.

Chand now has 21 days to file an appeal with the anti-doping appeal panel (ADAP) from the date of receipt of decision by the appealing party, the report further stated.