Hockey goalkeeper Chikte slapped a 2-year doping ban
NEW DELHI: The National Antidoping Agency (NADA) has banned hockey goalkeeper Akash Chikte for two years after he tested positive for a prohibited substance earlier this year.
Chikte was provisionally suspended by NADA from March 27 and the minimum sanction of two years was imposed by the Anti-doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) after a final hearing on October 8.
Chikte was found positive for banned anabolic steroid (Norandrosterone) during an out-ofcompetition test during the senior team’s hockey camp in Bengaluru on February 27.
The final order was uploaded on agency’s website late on Thursday where it was mentioned that his case of dope violation was “unintentional” as he had taken medicine for an injury in his left foot.
However along with Chikte, there were six other athletes across other disciplines, who were all handed four-year suspensions for doping violations as they could not prove how prohibited substances entered their body. The six others are wrestler Amit, kabaddi player Pradeep Kumar, weightlifter Narayan Singh, athletes Saurabh Singh, Baljeet Kaur and Simarjit Kaur.
One of the members of the ADDP Panel, which imposed sanctions on Chikte, is Olympian and former hockey captain Jagbir Singh.
All the athletes have three weeks to appeal against the sanction to NADA’S highest body Anti Doping Appeals Panel (ADAP).
There is a possibility that NADA might push for tougher sanctions on Chikte, who was a part of the Indian squad that won Asian Men’s Champions Trophy as well as Asia Cup in Dhaka.
According to the NADA order, Chikte’s urine sample report had Adverse Analytical Findings (AAF) for 19-Norandrosterone (19 NA, metabolite of Nandrolone or its Precursor) at a concentration level greater than 15 ng/ ml, Androgenic Anabolic Steroid, which is non-specified substance as per NADA/WADA prohibited list.