As the excitement builds for the Budapest World Athletics Championships, a major shakeup occurred in the Indian contingent. Bhawna Jat, a distinguished Race Walker who represented the nation in the Tokyo Olympics, was pulled from the team by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). The decision followed an anti-doping rule violation concerning a whereabouts failure identified by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
Sources reveal that Bhawna had already reached Budapest with the Indian squad. However, a directive from NADA about her whereabouts failure led to her immediate return to India, as conveyed by an official familiar with the situation.
For those unfamiliar with anti-doping protocols, athletes are mandated to provide accurate 'whereabout filings' every quarter, specifying their location for a daily one-hour window. This ensures they are available for out-of-competition testing. A combination of three incidents, either as filing failure or missed tests, within a year, results in an anti-doping violation.
NADA had handed Bhawna a provisional suspension notice on August 10, against which she appealed. The urgent hearing by a panel led by Sunny Choudhary, however, dismissed her plea. Notably, Bhawna failed to appear for doping tests in May and June and had a filing failure in late 2022.
Bhawna Jat's track record as a race walker for India is impressive. She clinched gold at the recent Inter-State championships, finishing the race in 1hr 37min 3 secs. This year, she also set her personal best at the Indian Race-Walking Championships in Ranchi. Despite being the sole woman race walker for Budapest, due to Priyanka Goswami's focus on the Hangzhou Asian Games, her participation now stands nullified.
In a related note, just a month ago, three other Indian athletes faced similar doping allegations, resulting in their withdrawal from the Asian Championships.
Additionally, a study by the World Anti-Doping Agency on NADA pointed out its insufficient management and oversight regarding athletes' whereabouts filings. Initiated in 2018, this investigation highlighted that out of 131 athletes under NADA's scrutiny, 97 whereabouts failures involved 70 athletes.
