It will be a long road if they wish to make a comeback to the sport.
Two elite Indian athletes —DP Manu (javelin thrower) and Kartik Kumar (long distance) having the potential to make an impression at the global level this year will be watching the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics in September from the sidelines. Their careers have come to a halt because of failed dope tests.
Javelin thrower Manu tested positive for a banned substance last year in June and has been banned for four years for anti-doping violation. His ban will end in 2028.
Kumar has been provisionally suspended for out of competition positive dope test twice earlier this year in February and March. It will certainly keep him off the track till the final verdict is announced by NADA (National Anti Doping Agency).
What is more intriguing is that Manu failed a dope test in the build up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. He was tested in April 2024 during a domestic event.
Kumar recently failed the out of competition dope test in Colorado Springs where the Indian team of long distance runners are training ahead of the World Athletics Championships scheduled to be held from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, Japan.
To make a strong comeback, both athletes should get ample support from their respective departments to stay active. Both the athletes have to keep themselves highly motivated to return to competition again as they are not entitled to get privileges of a sportsperson while serving a ban.
Otherwise, it will be a challenging task for them to return to competitive sports.
The 24-year-old Manu has a personal best of 84.35m that came in 2022. He finished an impressive sixth at the 2023 Budapest World Athletics Championships. India’s ace thrower and double Olympic Games medallist Neeraj Chopra went on to win gold there. While a third Indian in fray—Kishore Kumar Jena finished fifth in the final.
Kumar, 25, had a stellar performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China in 2023, where he won silver in men’s 10,000m His personal best over 10,000m track race is 28:01.90. He has also excelled over the road racing prize money circuit in India. Kumar’s close associate says he is innocent and failed dope test due to contaminated food supplements. “He (Kumar) consumed food supplements that seemed to be contaminated which was the reason he failed the dope test,” one of his training partners in India.
However, it will not be easy for Kumar to prove his innocence in front of an anti-doping disciplinary panel. World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) guidelines are clear as crystal. The athletes are responsible for the banned substance found in his sample. From time to time WADA updates and publishes a list of banned substances on its website.
In case his supplements were contaminated, Kumar will not only have to establish that the detected banned substance entered his bloodstream through the contaminated product but also prove “no significant fault or negligence” on his part to be able to get the benefit of a reduced sanction.
Manu too wasn’t able to prove he wasn’t guilty and National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) slapped a four years ban.
“It is up to the individual athlete and his coaching staff to keep a track of the latest updates and avoid incidents that might curtail their sports career in their prime,” a senior athletics coach said.
Kumar’s future is on a sticky wicket. NADA hearing is generally a lengthy procedure. Given the current circumstance, it looks hard for Kumar to immediately make a comeback. Though there are exceptions. Haryana’s sprinter Dharambir this year made a comeback after eight long years of suspension for using prohibited substances to improve his performance.
On the other hand, India’s top female quarter-milers, including Ashwini Akkunji, Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist in low hurdles weren’t able to make a comeback after four years ban in 2011.
