Ace discus thrower Seema Punia, who won the gold in the Federation Cup and qualified for the Commonwealth Games, could not be tested as the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials reached Patiala after the athlete left for home.
However, there was relief for Tamil Nadu’s Subramani Siva, who was on Tuesday dope-tested by the NADA, a day after he shattered the men’s pole vault national record during the ongoing meet.
Siva, who cleared 5.15m to break his own earlier national record of 5.14m, could not be tested on Monday after his event as NADA officials did not reach here on time. The NADA officials did turn up on Tuesday and Siva’s urine sample was taken around 3pm. An athlete should undergo dope testing within 24 hours after the event if his or her national record was to be ratified later.
“Siva’s dope test was completed by NADA officials around 3pm today. His event ended after 5pm yesterday and so it (the dope test) is within 24 hours of completion of his event,” an official said.
However, top woman discus thrower Seema, who won a gold on the opening day, on Monday, to virtually book a CWG berth, left for home before the NADA Officials reach the NIS Patiala on Tuesday.
“She left early today and NADA officials had not reached here then. To be fair to her, Seema is not bound to wait for the NADA to come. She is not at fault,” the official said.
The AFI insisted that the federation had told the NADA about this event well on time and it was up to to them (NADA) when to come.
Seema had achieved the AFI norms of 59.00m for the Gold Coast CWG with her last round throw of 61.05m, which was also a meet record. It was Seema’s best mark in two years. She was competing in her first competition of the year.
The 34-year-old Haryana thrower has been a regular entrant in Commonwealth Games since 2006 and she has always been on the podium on each occasion — winning a silver (60.56m) way back in 2006 at Melbourne, a bronze at Delhi 2010 Games and a silver in 2014 Glasgow.
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