Madhya Pradesh U-23 Woman Cricketer Fails Dope Test; Suspended

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has provisionally suspended a U-23 woman cricketer from Madhya Pradesh after she tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. The development comes for the first time since the sport came under NADA’s jurisdiction last year.

Anshula Rao is an all-rounder and plays domestic cricket for Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. According to a report in the Indian Express, She was tested out-of-competition in March this year. Since India’s National Dope Testing Laboratory has been suspended by the world anti-doping body, NADA sent the player’s urine sample to a testing lab outside India.

Her samples confirmed the presence of  of anabolic steroid ‘19-Norandrosterone’, a metabolite of commonly-used drug nandrolone. According to a British Journal of Medicine study, 19-Norandrosterone is one of the four most commonly administered drugs by athletes to boost their performance, with other three being testosterone, stanozolol and methandienone, the report mentioned.

Rao is a right-arm medium pacer and right-handed batter, had represented Madhya Pradesh in the BCCI Under-23 T20 Trophy.

She has faced suspension up to four years and the quantum of her ban will be decided by NADA’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel.