By IANS,
New Delhi : The B samples also of Indian athletes Sini Jose, Juana Murmu and Tiana Mary Thomas tested positive during checks by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) here Friday.
The trio were among the eight athletes who failed dope tests earlier. Sini, a gold medallist in 4×400 metres relay at the Commonwealth and the Asian Games, and Juana had tested positive for methandionone while Tiana was found positive for anabolic steroid epimethandiol.
The tests were conducted by NADA during the June 11-14 National Inter-State Meet in Bangalore.
The B samples were tested here at the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) Monday and the results came out Friday. Ashwini Akkunji and Priyanka Pawar appeared before the NADA Thursday for their B samples tests and the results will be out next week.
“Sini, Juana and Mary Thomas’s ‘B’ sample also tested positive for anabolic steroids. They will now appear before a NADA disciplinary panel and if found guilty, their maximum punishment would be a ban for up to two years,” NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar said.
Juana, along with Mandeep Kaur, had flunked out-of-competition dope tests conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Shot-putter Sonia and men’s long-jumper Hari Krishnan Muralidharan are the two other athletes who failed NADA tests. They are yet to appear before the NADA for their B sample test.
All the tainted athletes have blamed their food supplements for testing positive for dope.