COLOMBO, July 28: Senior India quarter-miler and Asian Games medalist MR Poovamma on Friday returned to action at the Sri Lankan National Championships after serving a two-year ban for flunking a dope test in 2021.
She competed as an unattached athlete and clocked 55.84 seconds to finish second in heat number one. Jisna Mathew and Sonia Baishya won heats two and three respectively, clocking 54.89 and 54.10.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has informed the Athletics Federation of India that the two-year ban period imposed on Poovamma, which became operative on February 18, 2021, has ended and she is eligible to compete again.
A coach in the national camp told PTI that Poovamma’s ban period is over and she is eligible to compete.
“Today, she competed as an unattached athlete, not as Indian team member. She has become eligible to compete, according a letter from the NADA,” the coach said. The 33-year-old Poovamma’s dope sample collected on February 18, 2021, had returned positive for stimulant methylhexaneamine, a specified substance under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.
The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of the NADA had on June 16, 2022, handed her just three months suspension. On appeal by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) against the disciplinary committee decision, the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel had on September 16, 2022, handed Poovamma a two-year ban.
Poovamma was a member of the gold-winning 4x400m women’s and mixed relay teams in the 2018 Asian Games and also part of the 4x400m relay squad that won the gold at the 2014 Asian Games.
She also won a bronze in the individual 400m in the 2014 Asian Games. She has a personal best of 51.73 which she had recorded way back in 2014. Meanwhile, India’s Kishore Jena produced a personal best of 84.38m to win the men’s javelin throw competition.
The 27-year-old Jena’s performance — a meet record — was the 10th best this season worldwide and second in Asia, behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra (88.67m). His earlier personal best was 82.87m which he had recorded while winning silver at the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar last month.
Shivpal Singh won the silver with a throw of 77.36m as Indians took the top two spots. Another Indian, Seema, who had bagged gold in Bhubaneswar, also won the women’s 10000m race final with a time of 35 minute and 39.22 seconds. Siva Subarmani won silver in men’s pole vault with a performance of 4.90m.
Several Indian athletes are taking part in the championships to gather ranking points in their bid to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest from August 19 to 27. The qualification period window ends on Saturday. (PTI)
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