Topic: News: Indian Lifters Test Positive Again and Again

[John Way]

"system encourages and allows it", the nature of mankind is the system, that is to always test the boundaries of what is possible and allowed 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Monika doesn't want to contest case

In a dramatic twist in a case that looked never-ending, weightlifter Monika Devi has all but pleaded ‘guilty' to a charge of anti-doping rule violation.

Appearing before the Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel headed by Sudhir Nandrajog on Monday, Monika's lawyer Ramesh Kumar withdrew himself from the proceedings and allowed the weightlifter to make a statement.

In a written statement, Monika said that she was no longer interested in contesting the panel proceedings and she expressed the hope that she would be given the most lenient punishment under the rules.

The panel will now decide the final sanction with less than two months left for the completion of two years since the collection of her first urine sample in the case in question.

However, in dispute will be the commencement date of her ineligibility, whether to go back to June 6, 2008 when her first sample was collected or to start the suspension from the date of the hearing decision as dictated by the rules.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) is seeking a two-year suspension from the date of hearing decision. Monika's lawyer had already indicated last January that his client was looking forward to the sample collection date.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation, while provisionally naming the Manipuri lifter among the Commonwealth Games core probables — pending her clearance by the panel — had announced that in the worst case her suspension can go up to June this year only, almost pre-judging the decision of the panel.

Monika seemed to have reached a stage in the hearings where she could hope to get a complete reprieve because of procedural irregularities. Her stand on Monday thus came as a surprise.

There were several loopholes in the ‘prosecution' case, especially the legality of continuing with a ‘B' sample testing in the WADA-accredited laboratory in Tokyo when the ‘A' sample was tested in a non-accredited lab in Delhi.

Having tied itself into knots about the status of the Delhi lab, in June 2008 (the lab gained WADA accreditation only in September, 2009), NADA seemed to have committed itself to the validity of a test that can have no legal sanctity.

Several explanations were given during the hearings about the laboratory having gained ISO17025 certification and it being under accreditation process, but there is no room within the NADA rules or the WADA Code to give any concession as far as testing at an accredited laboratory goes.

The Nandrajog panel has been left with an unenviable task. It has to decide the commencement of the suspension period with no record of a provisional suspension of the lifter available.

In fact Monika was exonerated by an Indian Weightlifting Federation panel immediately after being prevented from going to Beijing in August, 2008.

The panel has to see under what rules it can tackle her sanctions since NADA rules say if a case dates back to the time when the NADA rules had not come into existence then it would be handled according to the old rules under which it was dealt with.

All rules, whether old or new, would show that the panel can impose sanctions only if tests are done at accredited laboratories.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Monika given two-year suspension till June

Twenty months after she was prevented from taking off for Beijing for participation in the Olympic Games, Monika Devi was on Wednesday slapped with a two-year suspension that will end in June this year, clearing the way for her participation in the Commonwealth Games.

Doubts remained, however, on Wednesday afternoon over the Manipuri weightlifter's Commonwealth Games prospects as the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) lawyers indicated that they would look into the order in detail before saying anything on a possible appeal.

The usually-effervescent Monika was glum-faced immediately after the operative part of the five-page order was read out by Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel Chairman Sudhir Nandrajog. For, a casual observation was made by the ‘prosecution' lawyer Rahul Kumar that the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) rules, from March, 2008, stipulated a four-year sanction for a first-time doping offence.

Monika's anti-doping rule violation for testosterone, dates back to June, 2008. Her eventual sanction was applied on the rules of the IWF, as they existed at the time of her sample collection (June 6, 2008), though her ‘positive' was confirmed only through a ‘B' sample testing done at the WADA-accredited Tokyo laboratory on January 15, 2009.

The interest in the case centred round the date of commencement of the suspension once Monika made a tacit admission last Monday that she had violated the rules, though unwittingly. Under the NADA rules, with which the case started last January, she would have been suspended from the date of the decision, providing for a deduction of any provisional suspension period she might have undergone.

Since August, 2008, Monika had not undergone any provisional suspension, though, as she pointed out, she had not been able to compete in any competition during the intervening period.

A sympathetic disciplinary panel found a legitimate way out in the NADA rules that prohibited application of the rules retroactively, thereby bringing in the relevant IWF rules (2008) to decide on the matter.

However, one crucial point seems to have been overlooked by the panel, that of a four-year suspension prescribed by the IWF for a first-time offence since March 2008 through an Executive Board decision.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation Secretary, Sahdev Yadav, told The Hindu on Wednesday that the four-year ban would not be applicable to domestic testing.

(IWF rules are silent on different application of rules for national-level testing, though in practice the federation does resort to its own interpretations of rules in certain cases.)

Yadav said Monika would undergo two re-instatement tests, to be conducted by the federation, in May and June, before being inducted into the National camp. He said Manipur would be penalised Rs. 50,000 as a fine for the offence committed by Monika.

Asked if she was not happy that she had received a suspension that would end very soon, Monika said: “Why should I be happy? An athlete has many dreams to realise. Only then can one be happy.”

The panel's ruling was based on the 2008 IWF rules regarding commencement of the ineligibility period that stated that it had to be from the date of sample collection.

By going back to the IWF rules, apparently in an effort to give a ‘fair sanction', the panel might have unwittingly opened up a debate about a stiffer punishment for Monika under the revised sanctions of the International Federation.

NADA will have 14 days to appeal before the Anti-Doping Appeal panel headed by retired High Court Judge C.K. Mahajan.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Life-banned Shailaja Pujari faces another ban?

Weightlifter Shailaja Pujari, who has been slapped with a life ban by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), has been put through fresh disciplinary proceedings by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

The Andhra woman had come ‘positive' for a steroid in a test conducted by NADA in the Bangalore camp on August 27 last. She tested positive again, subsequently, in a test carried out by the IWF in Pune in September.

Having tested positive prior to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006, in an out-of-competition test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Patiala, Pujari was banned for life for her second offence by the IWF.

The IWF ban was announced last January. The Andhra lifter has already crossed the time-limit for an appeal which is 21 days.

NADA had, in the meantime, initiated its own proceedings, the first notice to Pujari having gone out last October. Pujari was listed to appear before the Jasmeet Singh panel on April 14.

The panel also includes hockey Olympian M.P. Ganesh and Dr N.K. Kaadiya.

Pujari was unavailable for the hearing on that date and there is no confirmation about her intention to go through with another set of procedures while she is undergoing a life ban.

If the panel is able to actually go through with the hearing and finds her guilty from the reported violation at the Bangalore camp, it would be construed as her second offence (first one being her 2006 offence), punishable with a life ban.

The question naturally comes up: Should an athlete who is undergoing a life ban be hauled up before another disciplinary panel to face one more doping charge and possible sanction?

Logically, this might sound an incongruous situation, but from a legal perspective there could be room for a debate.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Monika to return to lifting in June
By Abhinav Garg

NEW DELHI: Indian weightlifter Monika Devi, who was banned following a failed dope test, can prepare to enter the sport once again in a few months from now.

A special anti-doping disciplinary panel, to whom Devi's case was referred to by the Delhi High Court after she challenged the ban before HC, has found her guilty of steroid usage. The panel was set up under the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) rules. NADA had held Monika guilty and suspended her from the game.

However, the Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel has taken a lenient view of Monika's transgression and set off the two-year ban imposed on her as period undergone since the time her urine sample was collected in 2008 June.

This means the ban will be over in June this year, allowing Devi to re-enter the Olympic sport.

[kaptain.kayak]

Its not really cheating if the system encourages and allows it, as I believe it does. End drug testing is my prescription. It is a failure and will never, ever work.

Is being removed from the olympics also a part of your prescription?

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

That would be a question more appropriate to another thread in my view. I believe I even created a whole thread for "my plan" if you care to discuss it. ;)

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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No appeal in Monika case

Monika Devi can breathe easy. Wednesday happened to be the last day for the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) or any other authority in India to appeal against the decision of the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary panel in handing out a two-year suspension to her, ending June 5 this year.

The disciplinary panel had based its decision on the rules of the International Weightlifting Federation as the NADA rules were not applicable at the time of her sample collection on June 6, 2008.

Even though the NADA rules prescribe only a two-year suspension, the IWF anti-doping rules, from March 2008, had stipulated a four-year suspension for first-time offenders.

Theoretically, there was thus a chance of NADA going in for appeal for a four-year ban (as per IWF rules that were applied) or to at least argue that the suspension be from January, 2009, when her samples were tested and found positive at an accredited laboratory.

WADA will still have time to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), though it does not prescribe a four-year suspension for a first-time offence.

The Manipur weightlifter will now go through a re-instatement testing schedule by June to be eligible for inclusion in the core probables list for the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation had already included her name, provisionally, in the list of core probables, pending the final resolution of her case.

Monika had tested positive for testosterone metabolites and precursors and was prevented from going to the Beijing Olympics, triggering controversy, court cases and agitations.

She eventually decided not to contest the proceedings before the disciplinary panel headed by Sudhir Nandrajog.