The great weightlifter, who won gold for India twice at the Commonwealth Games, has been barred from competing for four years.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has banned two-time Commonwealth Games champion Indian weightlifter Sanjita Chanu for four years after she failed a drug test last year. During the National Games in Gujarat in September-October last year, Sanjita tested positive for a metabolite of the anabolic steroid Drostanolone, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) prohibited list. The four-year penalty is a major blow to Chanu’s career.

Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Chairman Sahdev Yadav announced that Sanjita had been suspended. He confirmed that Sanjita had been blacklisted by NADA for four years. This is a significant setback for Sanjita. She had earned a silver medal at the National Games, which was taken away from her.

Her reply to this new discovery was unavailable. In 2014, she won gold in the 48 kg weight class at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2018, she earned a gold medal in the 53 kg division in the Gold Coast. The Manipur player still has the option of appealing against the verdict but it is not apparent if she would do so.

Sanjita is debating whether to appeal her drug conviction, which may take months and jeopardise her prospects of qualifying for the Olympics and Asian Games. She will be suspended if she loses, and her hopes of qualifying for the Olympics and Asian Games would be ruined.

This is not the first time the 2011 Asian Championships bronze medallist has been involved in a drug scandal. She was previously barred from competing in the International Weightlifting Federation in 2018 after testing positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone prior to the World Championships in the United States in November 2017. Nevertheless, the international body absolved her of the allegations in 2020.

Sanjita Chanu had faced this kind of predicament previously, but she was careful about her meals and vitamins. She also inquired whether they were drug-free before ingesting them. She feels this is her first encounter with it.

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