Sunita can compete at the Nationals, says Kalmadi

The Indian Olympic Association chief, however, could not categorically say whether AAFI would impose the ban on the middle-distance runner as recommended by the IAAF. He side-stepped the issue and said: ‘‘We have not suspended her but we’ll follow the procedures of the IAAF.’’ Does that mean she is eligible to participate in the Hyderabad National Games in December? ‘‘If she wants she can.’’

Meanwhile, as a first step, Kalmadi said, the IAAF has accepted ‘‘our protest against the discripancies’’ in the Seoul laboratory reports — as pointed out by the Sushil Salwan panel — and ‘‘the IAAF has asked for the reports from Seoul.’’

Kalmadi, who was accompanied by two other members of the AAFI, including secetary Lalit Kumar Bhanot, said they had met and lodged their protests with the IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai and presented the case to Prof Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the anti-doping commission of IAAF, and Dr Gabriel Dolle, anti-doping officer, of the international body.

Kalmadi said they were given a patient hearing and the matter would be taken up during the next meeting of the commission.

‘‘We pointed out to them the variations in the A and B samples of Sunita Rani, the over-writing in the test reports, different dates on the print-outs and the same analyst signing the report on behalf of another person,’’ said Kalmadi.

Kalmadi also said that AAFI has raised objection to the way the urine samples were collected at Busan, besides pointing out that the same team had tested both the A and samples. This apart, he said, there was no Olympic Council of Asia representative when the B samples were tested. ‘‘And this is a clear violation of the procedures to be followed,’’ he said, he had indicated to the IAAF officials.

Asked if the IAAF had given any time-frame to dispose the case, Kalmadi replied in the negative. ‘‘There is no time frame in such cases. It takes time,’’ he said.