Indian athletics has been shocked by two high-profile doping cases involving top sportsmen Kartik Kumar and DP Manu, both of whom have been suspended after they returned positive tests for banned drugs.
Who is Kartik Kumar?
Kartik Kumar, the 24-year-old long-distance runner who had won silver in the men's 10,000m at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, has been provisionally suspended after a failed doping test. According to a report in The Hindustan Times, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) found banned steroids in Kartik's body in two out-of-competition tests between February and March 2025. He had been training at the high-altitude centre in Colorado Springs, USA, along with fellow Army athlete Gulveer Singh, who has been in excellent shape this season.
Kartik achieved a personal best of 28:15.38 at the Asian Games and had gone further to 28:01.90 in a recent US-based competition. He also achieved a career-best 13:37.64 in the 5,000m. Yet, his recent performances indicated a decline in form, such as a 14:05.67 finish in the 5,000m and 28:11.34 in the 10,000m at the Sound Running Track Fest on March 29 — an event where Gulveer Singh broke the national record with a time of 27:00.22.
Kartik has since come back to India after his suspension, and the case now awaits further determination.
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Who is DP Manu?
In another major development, javelin thrower DP Manu has been suspended for four years by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) after he tested positive for methyltestosterone, a prohibited anabolic steroid. The 25-year-old, who won silver at the 2023 Asian Championships and finished sixth at the World Championships in Budapest, returned a positive test during the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Bengaluru in April 2024, where he won with a throw of 81.91m.
For the first quarter of 2024, Manu was included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) of the World Athletics’ Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and then in April, during the Bengaluru Grand Prix he returned a positive dope result.
Though he took part in two more competitions afterwards, Manu didn't achieve the Olympic qualifier mark of 85.50m but was still in the running on the basis of his world ranking. He was provisionally banned ahead of the National Inter-State Championships in Panchkula. The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel confirmed his four-year ban on March 3, with the ban taking effect retrospectively from June 24, 2024, so he won't be able to compete until mid-2028.
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How does the suspension affect India?
These back-to-back doping scandals taint India's growing reputation in athletics, with the Athletics World Championships coming up later this year, leading up to the Asian Games in 2026.
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