World Athletics Championships 2023: India's Bhawna Jat suspended for whereabouts failure, Kishore Kumar Jena's visa cancelled

Published at :August 17, 2023 at 11:53 AM

Modified at :January 13, 2024 at 5:52 PM

(Courtesy : Olympics.com and The New Indian Express)

28-member contingent was set to represent India at the competition

After five Indian athletes due to various reasons withdrew from participating in the World Athletics Championships 2023, the list has now further increased to seven. 20 km race walker Bhawna Jat has been released from the Indian contingent in Budapest for an anti-doping rule violation – whereabouts failure which was notified by NADA (National Anti Doping Agency).

According to a report from Hindustan Times, “Bhawna was in Budapest with the team but was sent back to India by the federation on Wednesday following a NADA missive on her whereabouts failure.”

What is Whereabouts failure?

Filing Failure – If an RTP athlete fails to report their whereabouts information by the quarterly deadline then they are subject to filing failure which is one type of whereabouts failure.

Missed Test – If RTP athletes are not available for testing during the window they have provided on their Whereabouts filing then it is termed as a missed test.

A combination of three filing failure or a missed test within one-year constitutes a whereabouts failure.

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With this India will have no race walkers competing at the Championships with Priyanka Goswami withdrawing earlier. Bhawna is highly unlikely to be included in the Asian Games squad. Several Indians in the past few months have been subject to doping violations. Karanveer Singh and Anjali Devi had tested positive last month and were removed from the Asian Athletics Championships contingent.

Other Indian in the fray at the World Athletics Championships 2023, Kishore Kumar Jena’s participation looks worrisome as “Embassy of Hungary in Delhi has cancelled his one month visa for reasons unknown”, official twitter account of AFI stated.

Just heard that there are issues with Kishore Jena’s VISA, preventing him from entering Hungary for the World C’ships. I hope the authorities are able to find a solution, as this is one of the biggest moments of his career. Let’s do everything we can. 🙏@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 17, 2023

“Jena was issued one month Schengen visa last month. He was to leave for Budapest on August 20. If visa cancelled, he can’t compete”.

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