Sprinter S Dhanalakshmi and triple jumper Aishwarya Babu, have returned positive for banned steroid drugs. Both Commonwealth Games-bound athletes have been ruled out of the upcoming Birmingham Games (July 28- August 8).
They have been handed provisional suspensions after the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the World Athletics conducted a dope test.
A source told PTI that Dhanalakshmi tested positive in a dope test conducted by AIU. She will not go for Birmingham CWG. She was named in the CWG team for 100m and the 4x100m relay team along with the likes of Dutee Chand, Hima Das, and Srabani Nanda.
She had recorded a personal best time of 22.89 seconds to win 200m gold at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet on June 26. The athlete had become only the third Indian woman to run sub-23s after national record holder Saraswati Saha (22.82s) and Hima Das (22.88s).
Triple jumper Aishwarya Babu's sample, taken during the National Inter-State Championships, has returned positive. Her dope sample was collected by NADA officials during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai last month.
She had broken the triple jump national record with 14.14m in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships (June 10-14) in Chennai.
Her score, a 6.73m effort in the long jump qualification round, was the second longest personal best by an Indian woman long jumper after legendary Anju Bobby George (6.83m).