Two Indian athletes banned for doping offence

In addition, three athletes have been handed provisional suspension by the National Anti-Doping Agency panels in fresh doping cases in Indian athletics.

New Delhi: Goa National Games silver medal-winning steeplechaser Mohammed Nur Hasan and India's World Cross Country Championships participants Hemraj Gurjar and Anjali Kumari have been put under provisional suspension after they tested positive for banned substances.

Distance runner G Lakshmanan and sprinter Himani Chandel have also been handed two and four-year bans respectively by the National Anti-Doping Agency panels in fresh doping cases in Indian athletics.

Hasan had won a 3,000M steeplechase gold each in the Federation Cup and National Open Championships last year.

Gurjar had won the National Cross Country Championships in Gaya in January, but he finished 88th at the World Cross Country in Belgrade in March.

Anjali Kumari had finished second in the National Cross Country Championships in January and was chosen for the Worlds where she finished 80th.

All three of them figured in the latest list of those handed provisional suspension by the NADA.

It is not known where and when the samples were collected.

Meanwhile, it also emerged that Lakshmanan, who won a gold each in 5000m and 10,000m in the 2017 Asian Championships, has been handed two-year ban from August 10 last year onwards.

His name figured among those who were handed sanctions by either the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel or the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel of the NADA.

Top sprinter Himani Chandel has also been banned for four years effective from June 15 last year.