August 18, (THEWILL) – Top Indian sprinter, Dutee Chand, has been banned from competition for four years after she failed two doping tests.
The 28-year-old tested positive for Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, a class of drugs that mimic the effect of anabolic steroids.
Chand is a two-time Asian Games silver medallist who holds the Indian national 100-metre women’s record of 11.17 seconds. She announced in June that she intended to retire after competing in the Paris Olympics next year, which would have been her third appearance after Rio and Tokyo.
However, the four-year ban imposed retrospectively from January now rules her out until at least 2027. Chand has three weeks to appeal the decision by India’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel. The panel ruled that Chand had been unable to demonstrate that she had taken prohibited drugs without “significant fault or negligence.”
Born to a poor family in Odisha, Chand is one of India’s most famous LGBTQ figures after she announced in 2019 that she was in a same-sex relationship, a rare move in India. The revelation prompted a backlash in her home village and Chand said she struggled to overcome the prejudice.
Chand also waged a long legal battle against a ban from competition after she was diagnosed in 2014 with hyperandrogenism. She took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which ruled in her favour in 2018, allowing her to compete in the Asian Games that year where she won two silver medals.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
