Bengaluru: Asian Games silver medallist in men’s 10,000m, Kartik Kumar, has failed out-of-competition dope test conducted by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) during his recent training stint in the United States.
According to sources, Kumar’s sample collected by USADA officials towards the end of February, from his training base in Colorado Springs, returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for testosterone and its metabolites. Another sample, which was collected in the middle of March, also returned a positive test, the stakeholders were informed.
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The positive result of Kumar, who will turn 26 next month, came as a shocker for athletics experts as Kumar came up the ladder the hard way. At the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Kumar ran a superb race to bag India’s first medal in the event in 25 years when he finished second in 28:15.38s ahead of Gulveer Singh who took bronze. Meanwhile, sources added that Gulveer’s samples collected on the same dates have returned negative results.
“He was a medal prospect for next month’s Asian Athletics meet in Gumi, South Korea. A gold medal there would have won him a berth at the Worlds as continental champion. Even otherwise, he was certain to qualify through the world ranking route,” an expert told TOI after hearing the disappointing news.
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According to sources, Army athlete Kumar, who was in the US along with national record holder Gulveer to train under coach Scott Simmons, believes that supplements purchased at his native place in Saharanpur could be the reason for failing the test.
Kumar, who returned to India at the end of last month, was getting into prime shape ahead of the big meets scheduled later this year. He ran his season’s best time of 14:05.67s in 5000m in Boston on Feb 14 and 28:11.34 in 10,000m last month in San Juan Capistrano. His personal best in 10,000m is 28:01.9 set in May, 2024 and 13:37.64s in 5000m which was set last year in March.
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