KOLKATA
Bhawna Jat, India’s lone female athlete in 20km race walk in the World Championships in Budapest, will return home after three whereabouts failures for dope tests within 12 months, according to sources in the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Wednesday.
It is learnt that the 27-year-old, who qualified for the World championships through the world rankings, has been provisionally suspended after three whereabouts failures.
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said Bhawna “will go back tomorrow.”
According to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures (filing failure and/ or missed test) within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation.
Bhawna had clocked her best timing, 1:29:44, in the National race walking championships in Ranchi in February. Her 1:36:20 in All Japan race walking event in Nomi in March and her 1:37:03 in the title winning performance in hot and humid conditions in the National inter-state meet in Bhubaneswar in June were also among her best performances.
