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In a bizarre turn of events, Indian woman athlete Aishwarya Mishra, who runs 400m races, has been called out by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which is based in Monaco and is an independent organisation that tests athletes that they suspect to be involved in doping. After this news broke out, neither the AIU nor the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) have been able to contact the athlete, who has seemingly fallen off the radar.
This news comes after the AIU noticed a sudden upswing in the athlete's timings during a recently held national athletics meet. Aishwarya ran much faster than her previous best timings and made it to the all-time fastest list of Indian athletes, qualifying for the World Championship as well.
The athlete was slated to fly to Antalya in Turkey in April along with other members of the 4×100 women’s relay squad but did not report before departure. Officers sanctioned by the AIU travelled to Antalya to collect samples but were unable to track her down. In search of Aishwarya, they then travelled to Mumbai and Haryana to meet her personal coach, but have not been able to locate her so far.
"We have no role to play in this case, When we came to know about this we tried to find out but her phone is not reachable. If a player is not part of the camp, then how can we deal with her or his whereabouts. If AIU is tracking her, it's their domain. We, as a federation have no role to play. If they will find something suspicious they will take action They are an independent body, and they put athletes on random testing panels. AFi can't do anything," Adille Sumariwala, AFI president, told Sports Tak.
"She was selected for the camp but she didn't join for no reason. No communication from her even we tried to find out but we could not trace her," national coach Radhakrishnan told Sports Tak on the issue.
Meanwhile, her personal coach Dharamveer said, “I met her before the fed Cup and I came to know that she is selected for the camp but at the same time was shocked to know that she is not attending it. I have no idea where she is and what has happened. She should have joined the camp. What are the benefits of selection if athletes don't join the camp? No contact with Aishwarya after the fed Cup.”
The AFI wants Aishwarya to join the national camp for two reasons: her timings make her a strong contender for the 4x400m women’s relay squad, and athletes at national camps are regularly tested for banned substances. This is because if a relay team finishes on the podium but one of the runners tests positive, the team then loses the medal.
Top athletes across any athletic event are named in a registered testing pool and must be available at a self-declared location during a specified one-hour window during which the testers can collect samples. Others whose performances suddenly improve, like the woman athlete, are on the radar of agencies like the AIU, which fight doping in the sport.
Dope testing in Indian athletics has been in the news after the AIU announced last week that Olympian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who placed sixth at the Tokyo Olympics, tested positive for Stanozolol, a steroid banned under the World Anti-Doping Agency code. Kamalpreet was at the national camp before the Summer Games. The first Indian woman to break the 65-metre barrier, Kamalpreet was expected to bag medals at the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the upcoming World Championships.
In other doping-related news, a male javelin thrower, who is an Asian Athletics Championship medallist and Tokyo Olympian also failed a dope test.
Since 2017, the AIU has taken over World Athletics’ anti-doping programme. These include testing and intelligence-gathering for corruption, betting, and manipulation of age and results, all of which fall under the purview of the AIU.
