Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh put his weight behind Khumkcham Sanjita Chanu and sought Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s intervention to get a review on IWF order.
The IWF on May 15 provisionally suspended Khumkcham Sanjita Chanu for failing the dope test. Chanu’s ‘A’ sample tested positive for anabolic steroid testosterone.
N Biren Singh wrote a letter to Rathore on June 2 and made it a point that the IWF suspension communication mentioned sample number 1599000 on the top of the report while the fourth paragraph cited sample number 1599176. The letter said there is a mistake in the laboratory sample identification based on which Chanu was provisionally suspended by the IWF.
The chief minister expressed his doubt that there might be a mix-up in the entire episode as the suspension order quoted two different sample numbers.
Earlier Sanjita Chanu demanded an inquiry into her suspension order and claimed that she had never taken any banned substances.
“IWF reports that the sample of Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham (IND) has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for Testosterone (S1.1 Anabolic Agents). As a consequence, the Athlete is provisionally suspended in view of a potential anti-doping rule violation,” the IWF said in a statement.
The star weightlifter has the right to challenge the decision before an anti-doping disciplinary panel. But if her appeal is unsuccessful, she will be stripped of the Commonwealth Games title which she won at Gold Coast, Australia in April, 2018.
She had lifted a total of 192 kg (84 kg in snatch and 108 kg in clean and jerk) in the women’s 53 kg category on the second day of the Commonwealth Games 2018 at Gold Coast in Australia to win the gold medal.
