Indian gymnastics’ poster girl Dipa Karmakar has been handed a retrospective 21-month suspension by International Testing Agency (ITA), an independent non-profit organisation that handles anti-doping test procedures for the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Dipa tested positive for higenamine, a beta-2 agonist, which means it is prohibited for consumption at all times, both in and out of competition. Dipa’s samples were collected out-of-competition on October 11, 2021, and the ban runs until July 10, 2023.
“Dipa Karmakar has been suspended for a 21-month period, effective until 10 July 2023 after testing positive for higenamine,” ITA said on their website.
“The case was resolved via a case resolution agreement pursuant to article 10.8.2 of the FIG Anti-Doping Rules,” the statement added.
As per the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), higenamine has mixed adrenergic receptor activity, meaning it may act as a general stimulant. Added to WADA’s list of prohibited substances in 2017, higenamine can act as an anti-asthmatic to open up airways. It may also be cardiotonic, which means it can strengthen heart contraction to increase cardiac output.
Dipa, who shot to fame in the 2016 Rio Olympics with a stunning fourth-place finish highlighted by the death-defying Produnova vault, last competed at the FIG World Cup in Baku where she made the vault final and failed to finish in the top eight in the balanced beam event.
In between, she went under the knife for an ACL injury in her right knee in 2017. The injury flared up at the Asian Games in 2018, forcing Dipa to pull out of the artistic team finals in Jakarta. Next year, she missed the Asian and World Championship before missing the bus for Tokyo Olympics thanks to a combination of injuries and Covid-enforced rejigging of the calendar.
The ban means the 29-year-old stands to miss all four tournaments in the Apparatus World Cup Series (Cottbus, Doha, Baku, Cairo) and at least three of the six World Challenge Cup Series. She could end her four-year exile at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp (September 23- October 8), which will be an Olympics qualifier event.