India’s Olympian gymnast Dipa Karmakar is serving a suspension for 21 months for the use of prohibited substance the International Testing Agency (ITA) said.
Karmakar tested positive for higenamine (S3. Beta-2 Agonists as per the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list) and has been suspended till July 10, 2023.
The positive sample was collected on behalf of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) in October 2021.
Higenamine was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances in 2017. The case was resolved via a case resolution agreement pursuant to article 10.8.2 of the FIG Anti-Doping Rules (FIG ADR and equivalent provision in the World Anti-Doping Code).
The ban means the 29-year-old will miss all the tournaments in the Apparatus World Cup Series and at least three of the six World Challenge Cup Series. She will be eligible for the Olympics qualifier event World Championships 2023 in Antwerp in September.
Karmakar is the first Indian gymnast to compete in the Olympics. The Tripura girl made history by finishing fourth in the women’s vault final at the Rio Olympics 2016, missing the bronze medal by a whisker with a score of 15.066 points only 0.150 less than bronze medal winner Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland.
Karmakar won bronze at the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, becoming the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games. She bagged bronze at the Asian Gymnastics Championships and finished fifth at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships- both firsts for her country.
Interestingly, Gymnastic Federation of India officials had claimed ignorance about her positive test despite the gymnast being put in the ‘suspended’ category by the FIG in February last year.
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