No Arjuna award for Maheshwary

NEW DELHI: The sports ministry has finally decided not to confer the Arjuna award on athlete Renjith Maheshwary after finding in an inquiry that the triple jumper was banned for three months for a doping violation in 2008.
Maheshwary was shortlisted along with 14 others for the award for the year 2013, but the ministry had to hold back his award in the wake of media reports that the athlete had failed a dope test in 2008.As per the rules, any person found to have used a prohibited or scheduled substance cannot be given the Arjuna.
"After detailed investigations, the ministry has determined that Maheshwary was found to have used a scheduled substance (ephedrine) during the 46th National Athletic Championships at Kochi in 2008," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. "The sample was collected on September 8, 2008 and given to the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) on September 15, 2008. NDTL on October 3, 2008 analysed the A sample of Maheshwary and reported levels of ephedrine far above the expected levels, even when ephedrine is consumed for therapeutic purposes. Maheshwary had not reported using ephedrine for medicinal purposes during the collection of the sample."
Ministry said that after the positive test, Maheshwary did not request for an analysis of his B sample and was subsequently banned for three months.
The ministry admitted that it was possible that the report of the NDTL may not be an acceptable ‘adverse analytical finding' and that the chain of custody of the sample may not have been sufficiently foolproof.
However, it added that Maheshwary never protested against the punishment awarded by the competent authority. "His acceptance of the punishment, despite the flaws in collection and analysis of the sample, has made the punishment final," it said.