Coach gets life ban; powerlifter suspended for trafficking banned drugs

NEW DELHI: Athletics coach Rakesh Kumar was slapped with a life ban for administering prohibited substances, while power-lifter Gaurav Vats was provisionally suspended for possession and trafficking of banned drugs in the latest list of sanctions issued by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) here on Wednesday.

Rakesh was suspended last year in March and his ban will be effective from that period. National Inter-State bronze-winning sprinter Prakruthi Roopa Rao has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned steroids Stanozolol and Drostanolone.

Among other prominent names, Khelo India Games gold medal-winning weightlifter Chelsi has got a five year ban for failing a dope test. Among the other provisional suspensions, a minor weightlifter is also in the new additions after testing positive for Oxandrolone.

Quarter-miler Kaushal Kumar, steeplechaser Jujhar Singh, and long-distance runner Baljeet Kaur were among those suspended as doping continued to cast a shadow on Indian athletics. In all, seven names from athletics feature in the provisionally suspended list.

Powerlifter Vats, whose nutritional supplements company's premises were at the heart of a crackdown on banned drugs, is also among those suspended by NADA.

In April, a tipoff from NADA's Intelligence & Investigations (I&I) unit had resulted in the confiscation of several prohibited substances, including anabolic steroids like methenolone and stanozolol, at Vats' company premises in Najafgarh following a joint operation, that included the local police. The joint task force was led by Central Food Safety Officers (CFSOs) and also featured Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) officials.

Approximately 2,800 capsules/tablets and 11 injectable units of prohibited substances, including anabolic steroids -- Methenolone Enanthate, Trenbolone, and Stanozolol -- were recovered.

Three hundred Methandienone and 850 Oxandrolone tablets along with 1,500 Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARMs) capsules were recovered. All these substances are steroids banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as they can be abused for building muscle mass to gain unfair performance advantage.

Injections of Adenosine Monophosphate, a prohibited hormone and metabolic modulator that helps endurance, were also among the recoveries.