Hima Das suspended for 16 months for whereabouts failure from July 2023; eligible now to compete
Hima Das suspended for 16 months for whereabouts failure from July 2023; eligible now to compete
In a surprise twist to the Hima Das anti-doping rule violation script, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has announced that the Assam athlete was suspended for 16 months with effect from 22 July 2023 for ‘whereabouts’ failure.
NADA has not given a detailed decision on its website, but it has said the latest decision was arrived at under a ‘case resolution agreement’.
A ‘case resolution agreement’ after having gone through two stages of hearing by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) and the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) might be unheard of. However, it seems that is what has happened.
A ‘case resolution’ agreement is one between the anti-doping agency and the athlete if the parties concerned are agreeable to such an arrangement and the athlete is willing to accept the consequences imposed without any challenge at a higher level.
Hima, who stunned the world as a junior by winning the 400m gold in the 2018 World Junior Championships, effectively ended her suspension on 21 Nov 2024.
How such a date could be decided since Hima had competed in the National Inter-State meet at Panchkula till at least 29 June (200m) is another curious aspect of this NADA decision. The Assam sprinter competed in April this year also, at a Grand Prix meet at Bengaluru.
NADA has been tight-lipped on Hima’s ‘whereabouts’ case as it went through the process of hearings at the ADDP and ADAP, both of which exonerated her of the charge. No details were given out how the panels had concluded that there could be ‘no fault’ in her ‘whereabouts’ failure to the extent of exonerating her.
Normally, a panel could reduce the suspension up to a maximum of half the stipulated sanction of two years in a ‘whereabouts’ failure case.
It seems the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) intervened to have a review of the decision of the ADAP last September. She was provisionally suspended by NADA earlier, as it turns out, in July 2023.
Hima stopped competing in the 400m after 2019. It was explained that she had suffered a back injury that prevented her from running beyond 300m since the pain by that distance was unbearable.
In the pure sprints, Hima has not done anything spectacular, though she had personal best timings of 11.43s (100m) and 22.88s (200m) in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
