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Two-time Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist weightlifter Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu failed a dope test for an anabolic steroid drostanolone, and has been now suspended provisionally by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), on Friday.
The weightlifting competitions at the National Games were held at the Mahatma Mandir complex in Gandhinagar from September 28 to October 5.
Sanjita’s sample was taken on September 30, the day she lifted a total of 187kg to finish second and win the silver medal. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu secured a gold medal in the same women’s 49 kg weight division.
Sanjita’s both ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples have shown the presence of Drostanolone, an anabolic steroid that is on the specified list of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list, says a report in Tribune.
Sanjita, who will now have to appear before the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) of the National Anti-Doping Agency, can get a suspension of four years if found guilty. As a consequence of her dope failure, she will also loser her silver medal won at the National Games.
It’s been learnt that her dope-positive report has been received by NADA about a week back.
“I am very sad that such a senior lifter, one who has won us two Commonwealth Games medals, has been caught in the dope net,” Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) chief Sahdev Yadav was quoted as saying.
“Incidents like this only tarnish the image of our sport. Everyone knows that we have a strict policy towards dope cheats. We periodically get our lifters tested during camps and tournaments and there have been times when many of them have been asked to give out-of-competition samples. But we do get setbacks like this.”
Sanjita holds the CWG record of lifting 84kg in the snatch event in the 53kg weight category. In June 2018, Sanjita was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) after her samples, taken during the 2017 World Championships, showed the presence of testosterone.
However, Sanjita had claimed a ‘conspiracy’ behind that offence and was cleared of doping charges in 2020 after the IWF admitted to “mixing up” her sample numbers due to an administrative mistake.
Despite such a big mistake, no explanation was given whatsoever by the IWF for the irregularities in the analysis of Sanjita’s sample.
Notably, Drostanolone has been strictly prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at all times in the category of ‘anabolic agents’ under section S1 of the WADA list.
According to the US-based National Library of Medicine (NLM), “drostanolone medically was used in breast cancer treatment, and in addition, is often used in sport, bodybuilding, and powerlifting as a performance enhancer, while providing increased protein synthesis, which reflects in the gain of lean muscle mass tissue and aids recovery.”
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