Top discus thrower Navjeet Dhillon fails dope test

New Delhi: Top Indian discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon has failed an out-of-competition dope test conducted abroad by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) before the World Championships last month.

Dhillon had won a bronze in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast but finished eighth in the Birmingham CWG which concluded on August 8.

”Yes, she (Dhillon) has failed dope test conducted by AIU. If you try to cheat, you will get caught,” a source privy to the development told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The 27-year-old Dhillon had won gold in National Inter-State Championships (55.67m) in Chennai in mid-June and Qosanov Memorial Meet (56.24m) in Almaty, Kazakhstan on June 25. But she could only come up with a best throw of 53.51m in Birmingham.

She has a season’s best of 58.03m and personal best of 59.18m which she achieved in 2018.

The place where the AIU conducted the test is not confirmed but the substance found in Dhillon’s sample is said to be a banned steroid which should put her under provisional suspension.

AIU is the independent body created by World Athletics to manage all integrity issues including doping matters.

”Most likely the test done by AIU must be at Almaty and not in Turkey. She won gold in National Inter-State in mid-June and she must have been tested by NADA there,” the source said. Indian athletes had returned from Turkey before the National Inter-State Championships.