New Delhi: The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has suspended triple jumper Sheena Varkey after she tested positive for a prohibited substance.
The 32-year-old was the only female triple jumper to represent India at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.
“Sheena Varkey has been suspended,” PTI quoted an Athletics Federation of India source as saying.
NADA did not immediately divulge the details of the banned substance for which she was pulled up.
Sheena had claimed a silver medal at the Uttarakhand National Games earlier this year, following it up with bronze in the Federation Cup after that. She had also bagged silver at the Asian Indoor Championships in 2018.
It is the latest failed test in doping as the menace continues to grow alarmingly, despite the best efforts of the Athletics Federation of India.
Dope cheats abound
NADA banned pencak silat player Bhupendra Singh Byadwal for four years for intake of performance enhancing drugs. His urine sample returned positive for anabolic steroids after being tested during the 9th All India Police Games (judo cluster) in Guwahati.
Byadwal won medals while representing the All India Police Sports Control Board in the event.
Also suspended for years was marathoner and road-race specialist Deepak Kumbhar while discus thrower Banvir Singh received a five-year sanction.
These punishments came after a bunch of athletes, including National Games gold-winning discus thrower Gagandeep Singh, were suspended for three years on August 11.
Their sentences were reduced by a year on accepting their offence within 20 days of being charged. Singh won gold for Services with a throw of 55.01m at the National Games in Uttarakhand on February 12 but later tested positive for prohibited testosterone metabolites.
India are ranked first globally for the most number of dope offenders, as per a 2023 World Anti-Doping Agency list, with 214 adverse finding from 5606 samples for a positivity rate is 3.8 percent.
WADA said that Indian athletics accounted for 61 adverse findings from 1223 samples.