New Delhi: Indian athletics’ biggest doping scandal involving six top women athletes, including three Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallists, ended with the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport awarding an enhanced ban of two years to them.
The world’s highest sports tribunal upheld the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) appeal to increase the ban period of Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Juana Murmu, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas from one to two years.
Their ban period will start from the day of provisional suspension slapped on them by India’s National Anti-Doping Agency last year.
The decision of CAS, delivered on Tuesday night in Lausanne is final and no appeal can be filed against its decision.
Three of the six athletes were present at the hearing held on Monday while the other three pleaded their case via video conference.
Ashwini will also be stripped of the gold she had won in the 400m race in the National Inter-State Championships held in Bangalore in June last year while Mandeep and Juana would be stripped of the silver and bronze they had won in the same event.
Tiana Mary will also have to part with the gold she had won as a member of Kerala’s 4X400m gold-winning relay quartet.
“Furthermore, all competitive results obtained by Ms Mandeep Kaur from 25 May 2011, by Ms Jauna Murmu from 26 May 2011, by Ms Ashwini and Ms Panwar from 27 June 2011 and by Ms Thomas and Ms Jose from 12 June 2011 until the commencement of their previous period of ineligibility shall be disqualified,” CAS said.
Ashwini, Mandeep and Sini were part of the Indian 4X400m relay quartet that won gold in 2010 Commonwealth Games here and the Asian Games in Guangzhou a month later.
Ashwini, 24, had also won a gold in 400m hurdles in the 2010 Asian Games while Mandeep, also 24, was a member of the Indian 4x400m relay-winning team in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Ashwini and Priyanka will serve the ban until 3 July 2012 as they were provisionally suspended on July 4 last year. Mandeep and Juana will be banned until June 23 next year while Sini and Mary Thomas will serve her ban until June 30 next year.
In December last year, a NADA Disciplinary Panel had handed a reduced penalty of one-year on the grounds that the athletes were not found guilty of intentionally taking the banned substances. First time dope offenders normally get the maximum penalty of a two-year ban, however.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed against the decision, asking to increase the ban from one to two years, but NADA not only upheld the disciplinary panel’s decision to ban for just one year, but also ruled that the ban period will start from the day of collection of samples. That was done to give the athletes a chance to qualify for the Olympics.
The IAAF did not relent, however, and filed its CAS appeal last month stating that the athletes should be handed the maximum ban of two years. (PTI)