Discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur fails dope test; likely to face suspension
New Delhi, May 5: India’s top woman discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, has tested positive for a prohibited substance in a test conducted by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the body announced on Wednesday. Kaur, 26, has been handed a provisional suspension after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid Stanozolol, AIU said on its website. AIU is an independent body of World Athletics that deals with integrity issues.
The AIU announcement comes following days of intense speculation that the thrower has failed a dope test. She had denied the initial reports and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) had not commented on the issue.
Kamalpreet Kaur’s doping case is one of the biggest in Indian athletics and could not have come at a worse time. There is less than three months to go for the world athletics championships in Eugene, Oregon and the big year of competitions includes the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.
AIU posted Kamalpreet’s case on its website and tweeted: “The AIU has provisionally suspended discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur of India for the presence/use of a prohibited substance (Stanozolol), a breach of the @World Athletics anti-doping rules.” AIU website mentions the date as March 29.
Stanozolol is a synthetic steroid derived from testosterone and has anabolic and androgenic properties. The drug gained notoriety at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive and was stripped of his 100m gold.
A provisional suspension is mandatory under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules “following an adverse analytical finding for any non-specified substance on the prohibited list.”
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-PTC News 
