By the time Lalit Kumar crouched at the starting blocks for the men’s 100m final at the Delhi state athletics meet on Tuesday, the 20-year-old was only ever going to finish first.
All seven of Kumar’s opponents withdrew from the race at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium citing cramp or muscle strains.
Organizers said they suspect the athletes, along with numerous other competitors on the third and final day of the competition, pulled out after getting wind of the imminent arrival of officials from the Indian National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
Photo: AFP
The visit came a day after a video shared on social media appeared to show a restroom in the stadium littered with syringes and packets of the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin.
“An odd withdrawal is understandable, but when seven runners withdraw, you know something is fishy,” Delhi Athletics Association secretary Sandeep Mehta said yesterday.
“There are some throwers as well who disappeared before competition and all of them should be tested by NADA. We are sharing with them details of the athletes who fled,” Mehta said. “If any of them return adverse results, we will ban them in Delhi and will recommend the Athletics Federation of India does the same.”
Mehta also said that some athletes from the meet did not turn up to collect their medals, raising more doping suspicions.
India ranked second behind Russia in anti-doping rule contraventions in a World Anti-Doping Agency report published in May.
Kumar, who was hailed on social media for being an “honest athlete in a dirty sport,” was dismayed at how the competition panned out.
“I was really looking forward to running against the best athletes, but nobody turned up,” he told the Indian Express newspaper. “Everyone was scared of getting tested. As an athlete, I feel very hurt and let down.”
The Delhi Athletics Association said it would award Kumar a medal and certificate even though he was the lone runner in the final.
“He did compete with others in the heats, and it’s not his fault that opponents disappeared before the final,” Mehta said. “We believe it would be wrong to deny him his medal and the certificate, and he will have them soon.”
In the junior steeplechase event, a girl continued to run even after crossing the finish line and a doping control officer had to chase her to get her sample.
The under-16 boys hammer throw also had only one participant.
Additional reporting by AFP
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
RSS