Indian 400m women hit with doping ban

ATHLETICS: Six female 400 metre runners who tested positive for drugs have been handed one-year bans, India’s National Anti-Doping Agency has confirmed.

The athletes include three members of the relay quartet that helped India win gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, namely Ashwini Akkunji, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose. The other three runners are Jauna Murmu, Tiana Mary and Priyanka Panwar.

All six were trained by Ukrainian coach Yuri Ogorodnik, who was fired in July following the positive tests.

The athletes had faced up to a two-year ban, but India’s National Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel decided that “the athletes have been able to establish how the prohibited substance entered their body and that they bear no significant fault or negligence”.