Triple jump player Aishwarya banned for four years, 21 days to appeal

India’s top triple jumper Aishwarya Babu has been banned for four years by the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) disciplinary panel for using a banned anabolic steroid. Twenty-five-year-old Aishwarya was dropped from the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games team along with sprinter S Dhanalakshmi after they tested positive for a steroid that was on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) banned list.

Aishwarya has time till March 6 to appeal against the ban after receiving the ban notice from NADA’s appeals panel on February 13. Aishwarya had tested positive for Ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SRAM), during the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai on June 13 and 14 last year. Aishwarya won the gold medal in triple jump in the championship with a national record of 14.14m. Aishwarya was temporarily banned in July last year.

NADA has said that Aishwarya used ‘anabolic steroid’ which is included in WADA’s banned list of 2022. The agency said the player had not taken a medical exemption for its use. Aishwarya, in her reply, had said that she did not take any banned substance for performance enhancement. The player said that in February 2021, he suffered an injury while lifting weights in the gym and dislocated his shoulder. She underwent treatment and recovered from the injury.

Aishwarya said that she trained hard before the National Inter-State Championships, due to which she had to face the problem again in the same place (shoulder). Fearing a recurrence of the injury in training conditions with equal passion, Aishwarya discussed the issue with her teammate Jagdish, himself an athlete. Jagdish suggested him to take Ostarine medicine and claimed that it was completely safe and would help in relieving the pain and healing the muscles. The disciplinary panel of NADA questioned why Aishwarya did not approach the hospital or the registered doctor.

He said that the player completely ignored the rules and took Ostarine on the advice of his partner. The panel said, “Taking into account the facts, circumstances, precedents and rules, it is decided that the athlete has violated Rule 2.1 and 2.2 of the NADA Anti-Doping Rules and is therefore disqualified for four years.” . The period of disqualification will start from the date of provisional suspension which is July 18, 2022.