Race Walker Bhawna Jat Handed 16-Month Ban for Whereabouts Failure

Indian race walker Bhawna Jat has been banned for 16 months by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of the NADA due to a whereabouts failure. The ban, starting from August 10, 2023, follows her provisional suspension and missed tests in May and June 2023.

Indian race walker Bhawna Jat has received a 16-month suspension for whereabouts failures, as ruled by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). Jat, a former national record holder in women's 20km race walk, was initially suspended in August last year and subsequently withdrawn from the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

The suspension, effective from August 10, 2023, will conclude on December 10, 2024. The panel's decision, handed down on July 10, was made public on Thursday through NADA's official website. According to Article 2.4 of NADA Rules, an athlete accumulating three missed tests or filing failures within 12 months faces a ban.

Bhawna Jat had missed two dope tests in May and June this year and blamed her failure to fulfill NADA's whereabouts conditions on glitches in the mobile application used for filing, as well as losing her phone. Despite these setbacks, she competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won gold in the 20km race-walk event at the National Inter-State Championships in June last year.

(With inputs from agencies.)