NEW DELHI: India's star sprinter Hima Das has been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) after three whereabouts misses in 12 months.
Hima will now have to plead innocence in front of a NADA hearing panel. The sprinter, who had left the national camp earlier in the year, faces a maximum two year ban which can be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of her fault.
Under the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures - filing failure and/or missed test - within a period of 12 months, constitute an anti-doping rule violation.
According to a source in NADA, Hima was sent the third and final whereabouts notice in August this year, but she didn't respond to that. The source also said that among the three failures, one is also a 'missed test' failure (not being present at the location promised for a test sample).
According to rules, an athlete has to give his/her whereabouts three times (every four months) in a year. If an athlete misses giving his/her whereabouts in the first or second quarter then a notice is sent. At the end of the third quarter, a response is sought from the athlete. Failing to do so or an unsatisfactory response to that results in a provisional suspension.
The athletes who are included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide full address for their overnight location, the name and full address of each location where they train, work or conduct other regular scheduled activities, as well as the usual timeframes of each activity.
RTP athletes must also identify a 60-minute window and location for each day of the quarter, during which they must be available for testing.
The 23-year-old Assam runner has not been named in the Hangzhou Asian Games team due to an injury she had sustained earlier this year.
