NEW DELHI: Two prominent weightlifters, including a national champion who had stunned multiple Commonwealth Games medallist Vikas Thakur in a domestic meet, are staring at a maximum eight-year ban each from competitions after their urine samples tested positive for a cocktail of banned substances for the second time in their respective careers
Services lifter Veerender Singh (men’s 102kg), who had created ripples back in 2019 after upsetting three-time CWG medallist and Commonwealth Championships winner Thakur at the Visakhapatnam Nationals en route his men’s 96kg gold, and Hansraj (men’s 109kg), also a medallist at the senior Nationals, have both been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada) after their urine samples revealed traces of prohibited drugs commonly used to increase muscle mass and testosterone level.
It’s the second time that both weightlifters hailing from Haryana’s Palwal district have been caught for doping. While Veerender was previously handed a four-year sanction by the country’s anti-doping officials in 2019 for returning dope positive, Hansraj was banned for four years in 2015 for his first-time doping offence.
Since it's the second time both have failed the dope test, the two are looking at an eight-year ban which will effectively bring the curtains down on their careers. Their cases will now be heard by the Nada’s anti-doping disciplinary panel (ADDP).
Veerender’s sample was collected in-competition by Nada’s dope control officers on Aug 29 this year during the 67th Inter-Services weightlifting championships in Pune. His sample was tested at the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) here which revealed the presence of ‘clomifene’ – a class S4 hormone and metabolic modulator.
Hansraj’s sample was collected in-competition on Aug 28 this year during the All India Railway championships in Mumbai. His sample contained prohibited substances ‘metandienone’ and its metabolites and ‘dehydrochloromethyl’.
