Sneha Kolleri withdrawn from Asian championships following positive dope test
Sneha Kolleri withdrawn from Asian championships following positive dope test
Two days before they will compete at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea the Indian athletics team has been forced to withdraw Sneha Kolleri from the squad following an adverse doping result.
An official with the Athletics Federation of India, who preferred not to be named, confirmed that, Sneha, a member of the Indian 4x400m women’s relay squad, was prevented from boarding her flight for the Asian Championships following the finding.
The athlete in question was subjected to an in-competition test at the National Relay championships in Chandigarh last month. She had also set a personal best in the 400m earlier this year.
Despite the jolt, India will be hopeful of performing well at the Asian championships, having won a bronze medal in the last edition in Bangkok in 2023. finished with 27 medals – six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze – at the last Asian Athletics Championships, held in Bangkok in 2023.
When contacted, Sneha denied that she had failed a dope test.
“I suffered an ankle twist and am unable to run,” said the 26-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram.
National camper Sneha was part of the Indian mixed relay team at the World Relays in China two weeks ago, her first major international event, and had been named for the Asian Championships team in both the women’s and mixed relays.
The Kerala athlete was the fourth fastest Indian 400m runner this year – behind Aishwarya Mishra, Rupal Chaudhray and Vithya Ramraj – and had taken the bronze in last month’s Federation Nationals in Kochi clocking a personal best 53.00s which also put her eighth in this year’s Asian list. Till last year, her personal best was 53.51
She had also clocked a 200m personal best (23.59s) in the Indian Grand Prix in Thiruvananthapuram on May 17.
This is the second high profile case of doping with Indian athletes to emerge this month. Last week, Shivpal Singh, a former Asian Championships silver medallist in the men’s javelin throw, failed a second dope test and is facing the possibility of an 8 year ban.
With inputs from Stan Rayan
