Quicks choose to brazen out AAFI’s charges

The brakes have come suddenly on the speedguns — Jagdish Basak and Kavita Pandya, declared the fastest man and woman, respectively, at ...

The brakes have come suddenly on the speedguns — Jagdish Basak and Kavita Pandya, declared the fastest man and woman, respectively, at the National Games held in December — are now facing a ban for testing positive for steroids.

Everything, except words, seems to be moving slow in the household of India’s fastest woman after her name came out among the ones that had failed the dope test. The 23-year-old daughter of a legal consultant in Goregaon prefers to defend the drug charges herself. And if she is to be believed, the case, yet again, is one of consuming banned substances without knowledge. ‘‘I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing drug in my life. I was shocked to see my name in the newspapers,’’ said the two-time 100m national champion while talking to The Sunday Express.

The 23-year-old says that she was under treatment for jaundice for a long period before the Games started in Hyderabad. ‘‘I don’t know if the doctors who attended me knew about banned substances. I wanted to return to action soon so I did not bother to know what was being given to me.’’

Story continues below this ad

Simultaneously, Kavita was also being treated for a back injury which had kept her away from action for eight months. ‘‘In 2002, I had gone to Bangkok and Manila for the Asian Grand Prix with a back injury. I returned in June with jaundice and informed the Amateur Athletics Federation of India (AAFI) about it.’’

Ask her how she is going to fight her own case, and the sprint queen says, ‘‘If they (AAFI) want I can clock the same timing today to prove my innocence. I can run even faster. My best timing in the 100m is 11.6 seconds, while at National Games I clocked 11.79 seconds. I have never tested positive before.’’ Kavita says she fails to understand why there was a four-month delay between the Games and the test results. ‘‘Rules say that the results should be out within 48 hours. I can understand a delay of a week or two. But four months is too much.’’

Kavita is confident that she will be cleared of the charges. ‘‘I came out clean in 2001 when I was forced to undergo a feminity test in Patiala.’’

The Jagdish Basak case now, and Balwinder Singh, his coach, firmly believes that his trainee is innocent. ‘‘He is a simple and a disciplined boy. He has been performing consistently for many years,’’ said Balwinder.

Story continues below this ad

Basak announced his arrival in the Indian track and field scene with a bang. In his maiden appearance at the National Games, Basak won the 100 metres in 10.60 seconds and followed it up with a win in the 200 metres too. ‘‘In the Hyderabad National Games, Jagdish beat some of the leading Indian campers. He is a potential winner. He had not attended any national camp before going to Hyderabad,’’ said the BSF trainer.

Enough’s been written about the manner in which Indian sports authorities deal with doping and many other aspects related to it, and how all’s not quite fair in the game. The cases of the fastest man and woman in the country, if taken through to a logical conclusion, is bound to make the air somewhat less murky.

(With inputs from Balbir Singh and Kulbir Saini)

Donald Trump may replace H-1B lottery with wage-based selection process

World5 hr ago

Days after hiking the fees for new H-1B applications to $100,000, the Donald Trump administration has proposed to overhaul the visa process for high-skilled non-immigrant workers. The Trump administration has suggested a wage-based selection process for the H-1B programme, instead of the current lottery system.

View all shorts

Live Blog