Falsely implicated for doping after sample manipulation and driven to depression, athlete Shalu turns to DNA test to prove her innocence

The appeal panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency set aside a four-year ban. Shalu, a national medal winner, is back to training, determined to win a medal at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.

“I had not consumed anything which was banned or performance enhancing. When you have done nothing wrong, why should you pay the price? I kept telling my lawyer that I am a clean athlete even after I was banned initially. So my lawyer told me ‘let us get a DNA test done’. I said ‘ok, let the truth come out’. I don’t hold any grudges against anyone,” Shalu says.

She spent Rs 1.5 lakh for the DNA test, money she borrowed from the family. Her father, a sub-inspector, was convinced his daughter was not one to take shortcuts in life.

Proving her innocence took over a year-and-a-half. The DNA test results which exonerated her were out in February this year. NADA informed her about the failed dope test in August 2022.

“The letter from NADA reached my village home address. My family had shifted out of Majri village (North-West Delhi) to Rohini, closer to training centres. Our neighbours who are relatives opened the letter and informed my father. I was training at Ooty back then,” Shalu says.

Only when she reached Delhi a couple of days later — a brief stopover before she was to travel to Gujarat for the National Games — did her parents inform Shalu about the ‘positive test’. “I had received an email a couple of days earlier, but I don’t have the habit of checking it daily,” Shalu says.

What followed was a nightmare. She was ineligible to participate in the National Games. Her hopes of qualifying for the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou went up in smoke. She was struck off a list for an annual sports quota stipend worth lakhs of rupees from the Delhi government. Shalu went into depression and even stopped talking to her fiancé Sandeep Sehrawat, a sprinter who had started training with her.

The roka ceremony was done but Shalu going incommunicado was putting a strain on the relationship.

“I could not get out of my room for days. I was used to getting up early and heading for training. But now I had nowhere to go. For an active athlete to suddenly have to stop training is difficult. It not only affects the body but the mind too. I didn’t step out of the room to even eat,” Shalu says.

She lost eight kilograms and her confidence dipped.

“I went to the Prahladpur sports complex in Rohini to jog. But people would take pot shots. So I stopped going to the stadium also. I was so upset that I stopped talking to my fiancé. He was worried about my state,” Shalu said.

Sehrawat backed Shalu all the way. He went out of his way to be patient and cleared the air when uninformed people spoke about her being addicted to ‘nasha’. “We trained at the same venue. Sandeep knew what I drank and ate during training. He was clear that I had never consumed anything which contained prohibited substances. My parents and in-laws too had questions about what happened.”

The family was celebrating Sehrawat getting a call up for a coaching course when bad news struck.

“I had just got admission for the NIS (National Institute of Sports) diploma course. We were both so excited. But the joy was short-lived,” Sehrawat, who is now a certified coach, says.

In the midst of the personal turmoil, the both sets of parents believed it would be better for them to tie the knot.

On the day the DNA results were out, Shalu recalls Sehrawat being so overjoyed and loud that even the neighbours gathered to find out what happened. “I was cooped up in my room upstairs and when I heard the shouts I knew it was good news,” Shalu says of the day her ordeal ended.

Shalu’s lawyer is critical of NADA’s doping control officers.

“The disciplinary panel of NADA had banned Shalu for four years while rejecting our plea to conduct a DNA test. However, the appeal panel considered our arguments and agreed to conduct a DNA test. We had argued that the sample of the athlete was left unattended during the collection process and there was a possibility of manipulation. A DNA test proved that the sample was tampered with. NADA needs to ensure that doping control officers know how to go about their job. Such lapses can have a devastating effect on an athlete’s future,” lawyer Parth Goswami says.

Shalu wasn’t planning a comeback, but Sehrawat convinced her that she had enough in the tank for one major medal. “It is not about proving anything to anyone, but fulfilling her potential as an athlete, ” he says.

With dark days behind her, Shalu has started taking baby steps on the track. “I am a clean athlete. That is what matters.”