Quartermiler Sneha in dope net, dropped from Asian Championships team

Another national camper has been caught in the dope net. After javelin thrower Shivpal Singh, quartermiler Sneha Kolleri stands suspended after her samples have shown presence of stanozolol, a performance enhancing anabolic steroid.

Sneha, who is a national camper in Thiruvananthapuram, has been dropped from the Indian team taking part in the Asian Championships in South Korea. A source in the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has confirmed that Sneha has indeed been withdrawn from the team. However, it is yet to be confirmed where her sample was taken.

Sneha was part of the mixed relay team at the World Relays in China early this month and was selected for the Asian Championships for both the women’s and mixed relay teams.

The Kerala athlete had claimed the bronze medal with a personal best timing of 53 seconds at the Federation championships held in Kochi. Besides, she beat Vithya Ramraj for the 200m gold medal at the Indian Grand Prix-2 at Thiruvananthapuram.

Interestingly, according to the AFI selection policy for the relay team, only those quartermilers who are part of the Thiruvananthapuram camp will get selected to represent India.

“The AFI will be on the back foot. A national camper has been caught. A lot of questions will be thrown at the federation as to what is happening in the camp," said a source. “Further, the AFI has announced that they will punish the coach if a trainee under them tests positive for banned substances. In Sneha’s case, she is training under a foreign coach (Jerry Holness). Will they act against him?" he added.

Meanwhile, Shivpal, who may get an eight-year suspension for a second offence, was training in Patiala with India’s javelin coach Sergey Makarov.

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