Indian quarter-miler Anjali Devi banned for four years for a doping violation

Anjali tested positive for GW1516, which is prohibited at all times under metabolic modulators on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List.

Anjali, competing for Haryana, had clocked a stunning 51.48s to win the gold at the Inter-State Nationals in Bhubaneswar in June and had qualified for the Asian Games. | Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar / The Hindu

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has banned Anjali Devi, the country’s fastest quarter-miler last year, for four years for failing a dope test in June 2023.

She tested positive for GW1516, which is prohibited at all times under metabolic modulators on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List.

Incidentally, the US Anti-Doping Agency’s website mentions that GW1516 was pulled from clinical trials when it was found to cause cancer, which meant that it had not undergone human studies and was not safe to use.

Anjali, competing for Haryana, had clocked a stunning 51.48s to win the gold at the Inter-State Nationals in Bhubaneswar in June and had qualified for the Asian Games.

The time made the 25-year-old the sixth-fastest woman in the all-time Indian 400m list along with Haryana’s former Asian champion Nirmala Sheoran who, incidentally, was punished with an eight-year ban recently for a second doping violation.

Anjali, who had competed in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, was tested on the day of her impressive run (June 16, 2023), and a few weeks later came the news that she had tested positive and was handed a provisional suspension.

Anjali’s name now figures in the list of athletes sanctioned by the NADA’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, updated on Tuesday night. Her four-year suspension, as per the order dated February 5 2024, began on July 7, 2023.