Athletes who faced suspension for doping charges in 2022

India ranks second behind Russia in athletes facing suspensions.

The year 2022 has not been a good year for India with respect to doping allegations. Top athletes from various sporting disciplines tested positive for various drugs and have been suspended for a few years. 62 Indian athletes face suspensions and ranked second only behind Russia with 87 sanctions. Dipa Karmakar recently was suspended for two years for anti-doping violations which came as a shock to many Indians.

Kamalpreet Kaur

Discuss thrower Kamalpreet Kaur is banned for three years for using prohibited substances stanozolol. According to the Athletics Integrity Unity (AIU) statement, the Indian athlete’s ban has been in effect since 29 March 2022. The 26-year-old became a star after finishing sixth at the Tokyo Olympics and also is the only female athlete from India to breach the 65m barrier.

Shivpal Singh

Indian javelin thrower Shivpal Singh has been suspended from competing till October 2025 due to a doping violation. He tested positive for the banned substance methandienone, a performance-enhancing steroid. The ban came into effect on October 21, 2021, and the 27-year-old will be out of action till October 2025. Shivpal represented India at the Tokyo Olympics alongside Neeraj Chopra but couldn't qualify for the finals and finished 27th with a best throw of 76.40m.

Dhanalakshmi Sekar

The sprinter from Tamil Nadu became popular after winning the 100m ahead of Dutee Chand at the 2021 Federation Cup and since then has been representing at the world events. She was part of the 4x400m mixed relay team at the Tokyo Olympics. Dhanalakshmi was also part of the training camp in Turkey and achieved credible results after the two-month training stint. Due to a doping violation, all her results after May 2022 and has not been taken into consideration. Due to the ban, she couldn't feature at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as well.

Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar was the latest to get on the doping list and is currently serving a two-year ban for the anti-doping violation. As reported by TOI,  Indian gymnastics star Dipa Karmakar is under suspension since the second half of 2021 for her failure to honour the whereabouts as mandated by the world anti-doping agency (WADA). Athletes under the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to provide their whereabouts information and if failed to do so three or more times in a year can lead to suspension.

Dipa Karmakar became a wonder girl after her performance at the Rio Olympics by finishing in fourth place. She was behind the podium places by just 0.15 points but went on to perform a difficult Produnova vault. Dipa has won several accolades at multi-sporting events as well; finishing third at the Asian Championships and Commonwealth Games. Due to an injury, she couldn't get back to training ultimately losing out on participating in the Tokyo Olympics.

Other notable names

Aishwarya Babu was another promising athlete who was handed a provisional suspension after testing positive just before the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The 24-year-old caught up everyone's attention after putting up a good show at the Inter States Athletic Championships in Chennai winning medals in both the long jump and triple jump events. The long-jump mark has improved from 6.52m in 2021 to 6.73 in 2022, and the triple-jump mark has improved from 13.55 in 2021 to 14.14 in 2022. With the 14.14m in the triple jump, she also breached the National Record.

MR Poovamma the 32-year-old who specializes in 400m tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a simulant prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in an in-competition test. Poovamma has won several medals at the international stages (3G at the Asian Games) and (1G, 5S, and 1B at the Asian Championships).