New Delhi: Indian middle-distance runner Twinkle Chaudhary has been handed a four-year ban for doping after failure to prove her innocence.
A disciplinary tribunal of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) decied on the sanction against the National Games gold-winning ahlete after she couldn’t prove that a positive sample for a banned substance either didn’t belong to her or was contaminated.
The 30-year-old was placed under provisional suspendion in May last year. She, though, has received acquittal from the charge of breaching the suspension as she proved that she didn’t participate in the Khelo India University Games.
“A period of ineligibility of four years is imposed upon the Athlete, commencing on the date of this decision. The period of Provisional Suspension imposed on the Athlete from 24 June 2025 until the date of this decision is credited against the total period of Ineligibility. The period of Ineligibility will therefore end on 23 June 2029,” the disciplinary tribunal said in its judgement.
Twinkle tested positive for prohibited anabolic steroid Methyltestosterone, which was found in her urine sample collected on May 30 last year.
“In response to the Notice of Allegation, dated 24 June 2025, the Athlete in her explanation on 2 September 2025 indicated that she denied committing the asserted ADRVs (Anti-doping Rule Violations) on the basis that the Sample may not have belonged to her or that it may have been tampered with or contaminated during collection,” the tribunal stated.