Top discus thrower Navjeet Dhillon banned for 3 years for failing dope test

New Delhi: Top Indian discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon has been banned for three years after she failed an out-of-competition dope test conducted by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in Kazakhstan in June.

The 27-year-old Dhillon, who had won a bronze in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast but finished eighth in the recent Birmingham CWG, tested positive for a metabolite of the anabolic steroid Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT).

The sample was collected from Dhillon on June 24 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a day before she won a gold at the Qosanov Memorial Meet with a throw of 56.24m.

The standard ban for a first time offender is four years but her ban was reduced by a year because she admitted the anti-doping rule violation and accepted the sanction.

"On 23 August 2022, the Athlete wrote to the AIU stating that she had used a supplement that, unknown to her, contained a prohibited substance," the AIU said in its ruling.

"The Athlete also returned an Admission of Anti-Doping Rule Violations and Acceptance of Consequences Form signed to confirm that she admitted the Anti-Doping Rule Violations and accepted the Consequences specified in the Notice of Allegation.

"The Athlete shall therefore receive a one (1) year reduction in the asserted period of Ineligibility pursuant to Rule 10.8.1 based on an early admission and acceptance of sanction." The AIU said on the basis that Dhillon has admitted the Anti-Doping Rule Violations, she will get a period of Ineligibility of three years commencing August 11 (the date of Provisional Suspension).

"Disqualification of the Athlete's results on and since 24 June 2022, with all resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points prizes and appearance money," the AIU said.

"The Athlete has accepted the above Consequences for her Anti-Doping Rule Violations and has expressly waived her right to have those Consequences determined by the Disciplinary Tribunal at a hearing." Dhillon had won gold in National Inter-State Championships (55.67m) in Chennai in mid-June and Qosanov Memorial Meet (56.24m) in Almaty, Kazakhstan on June 25. But she could only come up with a best throw of 53.51m in Birmingham.

She has a season's best of 58.03m and personal best of 59.18m which she achieved in 2018.

AIU is the independent body created by World Athletics to manage all integrity issues, including doping matters.