Seema Antil loses gold medal on ephedrine violation

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 1. Seema Antil will lose her gold medal won at the World junior athletic championships at Santiago de Chile in October last year owing to a positive dope test.

The Haryana girl had tested positive for pseudoephedrine at the world meet itself, but the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) had kept this a secret till this day even as it was engaged in the exercise of seeking leniency from the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF).

Having failed in all its attempts and having gone through all the procedural formalities, the AAFI on Monday announced through a cryptic press release that Seema Antil had been ``warned for using pseudoephedrine''.

Pseudoephedrine, a drug widely used in medications for common cold, comes under the category ``stimulants'' and according to the IAAF rules, the athlete is disqualified, the result he or she has achieved in a particular competition where the positive test came about is annulled and the medal taken away. The athlete is also issued a public warning.

One of the famous names to test positive for an ephedrine violation in recent times was Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago. The sprinter admitted on his web site that he had used a cough medication. For a similar offence in the past Ukrainian shot putter Aleksandr Bagach had lost a World championship gold medal. Bagach at the moment is serving a life ban for having committed further violations.

There is no suspension under the IAAF rules for testing positive for stimulants, though several other international federations do impose suspensions for this violation of the International Olympic Committee anti-doping code.

Weightlifter Kunjarani Devi is undergoing a six-month suspension at the moment for an offence under the same heading of `stimulants', though the medication used was different.

Earlier, badminton star Aparna Popat had served a three-month suspension for a similar offence after having consumed tablets for her cold prior to the Uber Cup qualifiers here.

Seema has also, though belatedly, admitted that she had taken some medication for cold while going from Delhi to Chile for participation in the World junior meet last October.

The AAFI, seized of the Seema doping issue sometime in February this year, after the IAAF reported the offence on a test carried out in the Madrid laboratory, called for an explanation from Seema. As per procedure, it set up a two-member panel, comprising Mr. A.K. Banerjee, AAFI vice president, and Dr. Rakesh Kaushal, to hear her case.

In the meantime, it tried to argue with the IAAF that this was only a minor violation and not a case of steroid use, but eventually settled for the inevitable.

Seema, understandably upset that her much-publicised and much- hailed gold medal was being taken away, pleaded before the panel that she had taken the medicine unknowingly and that she be pardoned.

She had written to the IAAF earlier to state that on her way to the airport, while departing for Santiago, she had stopped at a chemist's shop and sought medication for cold since she had a `running nose'. She stated that she received ten tablets of Allerid-De, out of which she took six tablets till the time she competed in Santiago, and handed over the rest to the team doctor.

``I never knew that it contained any banned drug'', Seema wrote. She pleaded that she be forgiven and at the same time informed the IAAF that her `B' sample be tested.

``Her `A' and `B' samples have been tested and both samples confirmed the presence of pseudoephedrine, which is a commonly used medicine to cure cold,'', the AAFI stated in its release on Monday.

``Seema Antil accepted that she used the medicine to cure cold while going from Delhi to Santiago,'' the released added.

Seema, however, did not state in the doping form in Santiago that she had taken this medicine. If one could draw a comparison among the three recent cases in India, all involving violations under the category `stimulants', in Aparna's case, she had written down the medicine in the doping form prior to submitting her urine sample, while Kunjarani, like Seema, did not.

The AAFI secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot, said that his federation had been writing to the State units about the need to educate athletes regarding doping. The coaches at the national camps were also regularly briefing the athletes on `dos' and `don'ts'.

Yet, the fact remains that the athletes are unaware of the consequences, not only of taking more damaging drugs, but also of consuming simple cold medications and cough syrups which could lead to a positive test.

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