Sanjita Chanu, CWG gold medallist fails dope test

Dope shame returned to haunt Indian weightlifting as two-time Commonwealth Games champion Sanjita Chanu tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid and was provisionally suspended by the international federation.

International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said on its website that Sanjita, who had won a gold in the women’s 53kg category in the recent Gold Coast CWG, has tested positive for testosterone.

“IWF reports that the sample of Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for Testosterone (S1.1 Anabolic Agents). As a consequence, the athlete is provisionally suspended in view of a potential anti-doping rule violation,” IWF stated.

“In any case where it is determined that the Athlete did not commit an anti-doping rule violation, the relevant decision will also be published,” the IWF added.

The IWF did not give details, such as the dates, of the dope test sample collection, saying “it will not make any further comments on the case until it is closed”. It has been learnt that Sanjita has been asked to leave the camp by the Indian Weightlifting Federation and she has left for her home in Manipur.

The other weightlifters are currently training at SAI Centre at Shilaroo in Himachal Pradesh. It’s not clear when her dope sample was taken as none of the top officials of the Indian Weightlifting Federation were available for comments. Several attempts to contact them remained unanswered.

It is speculated that the positive dope result could have come from her ‘A’ sample taken during the World Championship in Anaheim (US) in November last year.

If that was the case, it is not known how the dope result was published so late since it is already six months since World Championship got over. According to sources from the Indian federation, dope samples were also taken from the weightlifters by a team from the international federation after the Commonwealth Games.

If her positive dope result came from a recent test, Sanjita is expected to request for a ‘B’ sample test. If her ‘B’ sample also tests positive, she is expected to be handed a maximum of four-year ban from the sport.

Sanjita had taken part in the 53kg class in the World Championship in Anaheim (US) in November last year, finishing 13th with a total lift of 177kg. She lifted a total of 192kg top win the gold in 53kg in Gold Coast. She had also won a gold in the 48kg category in the 2014 CWG in Glasgow. The latest dope flunk will hit hard Indian weightlifting whose profile has been on the upswing in recent times.

“IWF reports that the sample of Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for Testosterone (S1.1 Anabolic Agents). As a consequence, the athlete is provisionally suspended in view of a potential anti-doping rule violation”