Shocking: NADA temporarily suspends Hima Das
Das can face a maximum ban of up to two years, but it can be reduced to one year depending on the degree of fault by the athlete.
Hima Das also known as ‘Dhing Express’ is an Indian star sprinter who has been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) after three whereabouts misses in 12 months, according to sources. She can face a maximum ban of up to two years, but it can be reduced to one year depending on the degree of fault by the athlete.
Due to an injury, she sustained earlier in the year, the Assamese sprinter will not compete for India in the forthcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Three violations, the athlete has been provisionally suspended by NADA
An Indian team official told PTI on condition of anonymity, “Yes, she has committed three whereabouts failures in one year and so she has been provisionally suspended by the NADA.”
Whereabouts failures typically involve an athlete failing to accurately report their location for drug testing, which is a violation of anti-doping regulations.
According to World Athletics Anti-Doping (WADA) regulations, any three failures to report whereabouts (filing failure or missed test) within 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation.
According to a report, from a source in NADA, Hima was sent a third and final whereabouts notice in August this year, but she didn’t respond to that. The source also said that among the three failures, one is also a ‘missed test’ failure (not being present at the location promised test sample).
According to the mentioned rule, the name and complete address of each site where an athlete who is a member of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) trains, works, or engages in other regularly planned activities, as well as the typical period for each activity, must be provided. RTP athletes must also identify a 60-minute window and location for each day of the quarter, during which they must be available for testing.
She has been facing a lower back problem in the past few years, Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair had earlier said to PTI that Hima had suffered a hamstring injury in April just before a Grand Prix event in Bengaluru, and she had been on ‘medical investigation and treatment.’
Hima Das missed the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May and the National Inter-State Championship, which was the final event for the Asian Games selection, in June IN Bhubaneswar.
The specifics of Das’ location failure are yet unknown.
Previous Achievement of Das
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Hima took silver in the 400-meter individual event. She was also a part of gold and silver-winning women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relay quartets in Jakarta.
Hima Das is the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in a track event at the IAAF World U20 Championships.
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