Dutee Chand banned for four years, to appeal to NADA
Dutee Chand, a two-time silver medalist at the Asian Games, is to appeal the National Anti-Doping Agency's (NADA) four-year sentence for failing two out-of-competition drug tests.
The 27-year-old national 100-meter champion was given the suspension on Thursday after it was discovered that two tests collected in December of last year included "other anabolic agents/SARMS," which is on "WADA's 2023 Prohibited List of Non-Specified Substances." Both samples, which were collected on December 5 and 26, tested positively for chemicals that are almost similar.
Non-steroidal medications known as SARMS, or selective androgen receptor modulators, are frequently prescribed to patients to treat osteoporosis, anaemia, and wound healing.
Dutee's suspension will take effect on January 3 of this year, and starting on December 5, 2023, all of her competition results will be thrown out.
Parth Goswami, Dutee's attorney, stated on Friday that the sprinter had been a "clean athlete" her whole professional career and that the incident included "unintentional consumption".
The athlete, who owns the national 100-meter record of 11.17 seconds (2021), earned silver medals in the 100- and 200-meter races at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018.
“For us, this is a clear case of unintentional consumption of a banned substance. We were clearly able to establish the source of the substance in the body, which is a substantial proof of lack of intent. The substance was never used to gain any sporting advantage. We are in process of filing an appeal. We are hopeful that we will be able to convince the appeal panel,” said Goswami.
“Dutee is the pride of India and is a clean athlete. She has had an illustrious career of over a decade. She has undergone hundreds of dope tests internationally and nationally and has always been clean in her long career,” added Goswami.
Dutee and her attorney also asserted that it was an instance of "unintentional consumption" before the NADA Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP).
“The athlete and her counsel had without refuting the findings of the NDTL (National Dope Testing Laboratory) report stated that the consumption of the said substance was unintentional and the ingestion of the same had been advised by the physiotherapist who was being regularly consulted by the athlete,” said the ADDP order.
“The athlete and her counsels submitted that the said physiotherapist had been attached with the athlete from the Pullela Gopichand Academy where the athlete was training under special permission.” Dutee's attorney claimed that the athlete was "hyperandrogenic" and that this caused her to have "severe groin pain" for which the required therapy was needed.