Top Indian athlete Aishwarya Mishra will get silver medal instead of a bronze for the 2023 Asian Championships 400m race after second-place finisher Farida Soliyeva of Uzbekistan failed a dope test.
Soliyeva has faced one of the biggest setbacks in her athletic career. She was banned from all forms of participation for three years in September, 2023.
During the Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok in 2023, Soliyeva's urine sample was collected on July 13 and the report revealed that it contained the banned substance meldonium and the Athletics Integrity Unit. The international federation body disqualified all her results from the date.
"The AIU has banned Farida Soliyeva (Uzbekistan) for 3 years from 13 September 2023 for Presence/Use of a Prohibited Substance (Meldonium). DQ (disqualify) results from 13 July 2023," the AIU said.
Soliyeva was the second to finish with a time of 52.95 seconds while Mishra finished the race in 53.07 seconds as she was the other medal-winning Indian on the day with the bronze in the women’s 400m final. However, Srilankan Nadeesha Ramanayake clinched the gold medal. She completed the race in 52.61 seconds.
Mishra, who was also part of the mixed 4x400m relay team that bagged gold as well. With this, the women’s 4x400m relay team had also won bronze in the championships.
When asked about the allegation of dodging a drug test, Mishra told PTI, "It's not true, I was in UP at that time, even nobody from my family knew where I was." Mishra said that she will speak later on this matter.
Following her victory in the women's 400m event at the Federation Cup held in Kozhikode from April 2 to 6, she became the third-fastest Indian quarter-miler with a time of 51.18s.
Meanwhile, India finished third on the medals tally at the championships as they won 27 medals including six gold.
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