NEW DELHI, July 19: Asian champion shot-putter Manpreet Kaur has been caught in the dope net after testing positive for a banned stimulant, a massive embarrassment for the country which might lose the gold medal clinched by her earlier this month.
Kaur, who won a gold medal in the recently-concluded Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, tested positive for stimulant dimethylbutylamine.
The test was conducted by National Anti-Doping Officials during the Federation Cup National Championships held in Patiala from June 1-4.
She has not been put under provisional suspension as dimethylbutylamine is a specified substance under the WADA Code but India will lose the gold medal she won in Bhubaneswar if her confirmatory urine sample �B� test also returns positive.
�Manpreet has tested positive in a test conducted during the Federation Cup in June. Her urine sample has been found to have stimulant dimethylbutylamine,� an Athletics Federation of India official told PTI.
�We have been notified by NADA about this last night,� he said.
When contacted for a response, Manpreet�s coach Karamjeet, who is also her husband, said, �We have not yet been told about anything.�
According to sources, this is the first time that an athlete has been caught for using dimethylbutylamine, which is structurally related to methylhexanamine, a stimulant which was found to have been used by several sporstpersons just before the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Manpreet has already qualified for next month�s World Championships to be held in London but the latest development may rule her out of the mega-event.
�We have not thought about it (about her World Championships participation). But we cannot lose our face on that big stage. We have to figure out about that,� the AFI official added.
Manpreet had set a national record in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix meet in Jinhua (China) with a throw of 18.86m which fetched her a gold as well as a World Championships berth. � PTI
