Chennai: Refuting assumptions that she deliberately evaded dope testing agencies after emerging champion in the Federation Cup in April, Maharashtra quarter-miler Aishwarya Mishra on Monday asserted that she did not run away from the authorities but was in Uttar Pradesh on a personal visit.
Her personal coach Sumit Singh had last month said that Mishra was at a village in UP, looking after her ailing grandmother. Asked if it was true that she had evaded a dope test, she told PTI, "It's not true, I was in UP at that time, even nobody from my family knew where I was."
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She said she will speak on the matter later. Mishra won the third heat of the women's 200m in the National Inter-State Senior Championships of Monday with a time of 23.73s to qualify for Tuesday's finals and was faster than star sprinter Hima Das (24.40s), who also made it to the medal round.
The 24-year-old Mishra was allowed to take part in both the 200m and 400m by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). She however got disqualified in the 400m heats after making a false start. Mishra can be tested during the championships as the dope testing team from the National Anti-Doping Agency is here.
Last month, Mishra had given the authorities a torrid time. Not only the dope testers from NADA, even the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent body established by World Athletics, chased her to collect samples but could not find her whereabouts. She had become the third fastest Indian quarter-miler after clocking 51.18s to win the women's 400m event during the Federation Cup (April 2-6) in Kozhikode.
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On the basis of her impressive time in the Federation Cup, the AFI had included her in the Indian contingent of the quarter-milers who were to train in Turkey as part of preparations for the upcoming major events, including Commonwealth Games, but she did not turn up for the trip.
PTI
