Dipa Karmakar handed 21-month doping ban

Indian gymnastics’ poster woman Dipa Karmakar has been handed a retrospective 21-month suspension by Worldwide Testing Company (ITA), an unbiased non-profit organisation that handles anti-doping check procedures for the Worldwide Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

Dipa examined optimistic for higenamine, a beta-2 agonist, which implies it’s prohibited for consumption always, each out and in of competitors. Dipa’s samples had been collected out-of-competition on October 11, 2021, and the ban runs till July 10, 2023.

“Dipa Karmakar has been suspended for a 21-month period, effective until 10 July 2023 after testing positive for higenamine,” ITA mentioned on their web site.

“The case was resolved via a case resolution agreement pursuant to article 10.8.2 of the FIG Anti-Doping Rules,” the assertion added.

As per the USA Anti-Doping Company (USADA), higenamine has blended adrenergic receptor exercise, that means it might act as a basic stimulant. Added to WADA’s record of prohibited substances in 2017, higenamine can act as an anti-asthmatic to open up airways. It might even be cardiotonic, which implies it may possibly strengthen coronary heart contraction to extend cardiac output.

Dipa, who shot to fame within the 2016 Rio Olympics with a shocking fourth-place end highlighted by the death-defying Produnova vault, final competed on the FIG World Cup in Baku the place she made the vault last and failed to complete within the prime eight within the balanced beam occasion.

In between, she went beneath the knife for an ACL harm in her proper knee in 2017. The harm flared up on the Asian Video games in 2018, forcing Dipa to tug out of the creative group finals in Jakarta. Subsequent 12 months, she missed the Asian and World Championship earlier than lacking the bus for Tokyo Olympics because of a mix of accidents and Covid-enforced rejigging of the calendar.

The ban means the 29-year-old stands to overlook all 4 tournaments within the Equipment World Cup Sequence (Cottbus, Doha, Baku, Cairo) and no less than three of the six World Problem Cup Sequence. She may finish her four-year exile on the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp (September 23- October 8), which will probably be an Olympics qualifier occasion.