The Hindu : Sport : Sathya tests positive, faces two-year ban

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Sathya tests positive, faces two-year ban

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Sprinter Suresh Sathya who was in the Indian team at the Guangzhou Asian Games, has tested positive for steroid nandrolone.

In an out-of-competition test conducted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) prior to the team's departure, the 23-year-old Tamil Nadu sprinter returned a ‘positive' that should have been conveyed to the Indian contingent at Guangzhou, during the Games, but was not for inexplicable reasons.

Sathya won a 200m heat in Guangzhou in a personal best 21.02s on November 24, finished sixth in the final in 21.07 the next day and was part of the 4x100m relay team that clocked 39.10s for its fourth place on November 26, missing the bronze by one-hundredth of a second.

Had he won a medal, there would have been a strong possibility of him being tested and also a high chance that he would have tested positive there also. Such an incident could have completely overshadowed India's success in athletics.

Sathya was part of the sprinters batch that was sent to Ukraine for “specialized” training prior to the Commonwealth Games.

He was also part of the bronze-winning sprint relay team that stunned everyone in the Delhi CWG with its successive National records of 39.00s (heats) and 38.89s (final).

It was the first ever medal by an Indian men's relay team in the Commonwealth Games.

Sathya's urine sample was collected by the AFI on November 14, hours before a batch of Indian athletes were leaving for Guangzhou. It was deposited with the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) on November 15 and the test report came on November 23, when the athletics events were well underway in Guangzhou.

According to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Director-General, Rahul Bhatnagar, the ‘positive' report was conveyed to the AFI, with information regarding the provisional suspension of the athlete, on November 24.

An AFI official, however, said on Saturday that the federation received the intimation only much later, after the events were over in Guangzhou.

The NADA intimation was sent by Speedpost, as had been the practice in most cases, and not faxed or e-mailed.

“This was not a test conducted by the NADA. We were not even aware of such a pending test of an athlete who was going to participate in the Asian Games. We had completed our testing at least a week ahead of the departure of the teams,” said Mr. Bhatnagar.

If the charge is proved, after the NADA goes through due process including ‘B' sample testing, and he is indicted by the hearing panel, all the results of Sathya including those in the relays, from the sample collection date, would be annulled, apart from a two-year suspension being imposed on him.

‘Whereabouts' sought

Meanwhile, taking note of the outstanding results achieved by the Indian athletes at the Guangzhou Games, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) has, expectedly, sought ‘whereabouts' information of more than half a dozen Indian athletes including medal-winners in the Asian Games for the next season.

They would be required, to begin with, to furnish their whereabouts for each day of the January-March quarter. Only woman discus thrower Krishna Poonia had been in the IAAF registered pool during this year and last.

Observers have quite often questioned the purpose of sending athletes, especially sprinters and throwers, to Ukraine for training, along with foreign coaches hired by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), accompanied by Indian coaches.

Sathya, who came into prominence last year by winning the 100m in inter-State championships in Chennai, in a PB of 10.50s, surprisingly pulled out of the semifinals of this year's inter-State meet at Patiala despite winning his heat. He had finished fourth in the 200m in the 2007 National Games in Guwahati in 21.68s.

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