Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist weightlifter Ravi Kumar Katulu has been banned for four years by the National Anti-Doping Agency after he failed a dope test. Katulu who won a silver in 2014 CWG and is the national champion in 89 kg category, tested positive for Ostarine, media reports said.
Ostarine helps increase muscle mass though is not available to the public.
“Ravi Kumar has been suspended for four years,” Nada director general Navin Agarwal told AFP without naming the substance involved.
Ostarine is a “selective androgen receptor modulator”, or SARM, which doping experts say has been increasingly used as an alternative to steroids. No country has yet allowed its use as a medicine but it is widely available on the black market.
Two more weightlifters Purnima Pandey, a 2016 junior Commonwealth Championships gold winner and Gurmail Singh have also been suspended by Nada.
The ban is a new blow for scandal-tainted Indian weightlifting, which has been restricted to only four Olympic places – two men and two women – in Tokyo next year because of its high number of doping cases.
Apart from weightlifters, Federation Cup champion discus thrower Dharam Raj Yadav and sprinter Sanjeet were also handed four-year bans, the Times of India reported.
Katulu and Sanjeet’s samples have been tested positive for banned substance Ostarine. This is the first time that this substance has been found in an Indian athletes sample.
Dharam Raj’s urine sample tested positive for increased testosterone level while Purnima’s sample had traces of steroids.
