Goalkeeper Akash Chikte suspended for two years

According to the NADA report, Chikte’s sample was collected during random checking at the national camp in Bengaluru and tested positive for Nandrolone beyond acceptable limits of 15ng/ml.

The NADA panel accepted Akash Chikte’s plea that the use of Nandrolone was not intentional, thereby leading to only a two-year suspension instead of the WADA-mandated four-year penalty.

Former India goalkeeper Akash Chikte has been handed a two-year suspension for a positive test for steroid Nandrolone in an out-of-competition test. The sample was collected on February 27 this year with the B sample tested in April.

The final hearing by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel was held on August 16 this year and the decision came on October 3 that also mentions the period of suspension commencing from March 27, 2018, when the player was provisionally suspended after the first review.

However, there is a mismatch in the dates and the sequence of events as listed in the NADA decision available on its website, which mentions that the A sample was tested on September 1, 2017. However, the entire factual background and sequence of events mentioned thereafter make it clear that the incident happened earlier this year, during a national camp in January. With Friday being a holiday, no official from NADA was available for a clarification on the exact date of testing for the A sample.

According to the NADA report, Chikte’s sample was collected during random checking at the national camp in Bengaluru and tested positive for Nandrolone beyond acceptable limits of 15ng/ml.

With the B sample also testing positive, Chikte contended that he had taken injections prescribed by a doctor in Yavatmal for pain in his left foot after being hit during the camp. He also mentioned as suffering from fever and urinary tract infection at the time of sample collection, both of which are part of the SAI medical records. However, NADA’s contention was that Chikte had neither informed the Yavatmal doctor of his being an elite sportsman nor bothered to obtain Therapeutic Use of Exemption (TUE) or inform the sample collecting officer of the medicines he had taken. The three-member panel, including Olympian Jagbir Singh and Dr. Sanjeev Kumar from the Army Medical Corps, accepted Chikte’s plea that the use of Nandrolone was not intentional, thereby leading to only a two-year suspension instead of the WADA-mandated four years. Meanwhile, another hockey player, Bharat Singh, has also reportedly tested positive for Methylhexaniemine (MHA) during the recent inter-services championship and disciplinary process is still on.