Olympian javelin thrower Shivpal in dope net again

Javelin thrower Shivpal Singh has once again been caught in an anti-doping offence. The Uttar Pradesh athlete has been provisionally suspended after traces of methandienone were found in his sample, sources have disclosed.

Shivpal, who had competed in the Tokyo Olympics, was training in Patiala’s National Centre of Excellence with India’s javelin coach Sergey Makarov. He gave his sample in an out of competition test early this year. After that, he stayed away from the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships held in Kochi in April.

Interestingly, Shivpal has already served a one-year ban after his samples showed presence of methandienone, which is a performance-enhancing steroid.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had then suspended him for four years on October 21, 2021. However, his suspension was reduced to a period of only one year in January 2023. Through his lawyer Parth Goswami, Shivpal was successful in convincing NADA’s Anti-Doping Appeal Panel that the doping offence was a result of the usage of contaminated supplement. What had helped him then was the fact that he had revealed the name of the supplement in the doping control form.

If proven guilty again, Shivpal, who finished 27th at the Tokyo Olympics, is looking at a suspension period of eight years as this would be considered a second doping offence.

However, the 29-year-old javelin thrower denied that he is serving any suspension and claimed that he is still training in Patiala.

“It is not true. I am not under any suspension. I am still in Patiala training. I do not know who is spreading such rumours about me,” Shivpal told The Tribune on Monday.

When asked why he missed the Federation Championships he replied because he was not throwing well. “What was the use of taking part when I was not throwing well? My idea is to compete when I am consistently touching the 85-metre mark. What is the point of competing when you register 77 metres?” he said.

Shivpal’s claim of still training has been refuted by the national spokesperson of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Adille Sumariwalla, who said he was not in Patiala.

“He (Shivpal) is not in the camp and not in Patiala,” Sumariwalla said. “All steps have been taken by the AFI as per protocol,” he added.

Sources revealed that Shivpal was removed from the National Centre of Excellence after the centre received a letter from the Sports Authority of India on April 23.

Sports