WADA wants two-year ban on Ashwini & Co

February 8, 2012
aswini

New Delhi, February 8: Not satisfied with the one-year ban handed out to top four Indian quartermilers, including Asian Games double gold medallist Ashwini Akkunji, in the doping scandal, the World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed against the decision and pleaded for a two-year sanction on the athletes.

Akkunji, her Commonwealth and Asian Games 4X400m relay gold-winning quartet member Sini Jose, Priyanka Panwar and Tiana Mary Thomas were banned for one year, along with three other athletes, in December last by a National Anti-Doping Agency panel, virtually ending their London Olympics dreams.

They had been handed a reduced punishment of one-year ban on the ground that "the athletes were not found guilty of intentionally taking the banned substances".

The four athletes had since appealed against the one-year ban, praying before a NADA Appellate panel headed by CK Mahajan that they be absolved of all punishment as they had consumed the banned substances on the orders of their coach.

The NADA Appellate panel had reserved its decision on the matter but with the WADA also appealing against the reduced ban of one year, the panel is expected to reopen the case. The next hearing has been scheduled for February 15.

NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar said that the WADA had filed an appeal against the reduced penalty and the matter would come up before the NADA Appellate panel on February 15.

"WADA has filed an appeal, seeking a harsher punishment of two years under the Rules. According to WADA's contention the athletes should not have been handed lighter punishment on the ground that they don't know they were taking banned substances," Bhatnagar said.

"What WADA says is that under the rules the athletes will have to bear the responsibility whether he or she had taken the banned substances intentionally or unintentionally. The fact that banned substances were present in their urine sample should be enough to attract maximum 2-year ban for first time offender. This is what the WADA appeal meant," he said.

International Association of Athletics Federation is also expected to file appeal against the one-year bans handed out to Mandeep Kaur and Juana Murmu.


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News Network
December 3,2025

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Mangaluru, Dec 3: A group of Congress workers gathered at the Mangaluru International Airport on Wednesday to welcome AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, but the reception quickly turned into a display of support for Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

Venugopal arrived in the city to participate in the centenary commemoration of the historic dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Narayana Guru. The event, organised by the Sivagiri Mutt, Varkala, in association with the Mangalore University Sri Narayana Guru Study Chair, is being held on the university’s Konaje campus.

KPCC general secretary Mithun Rai and several party workers had assembled at the airport to receive Venugopal. However, the moment he stepped out, workers began raising slogans backing Shivakumar.

The university programme will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

This show of support comes just a day after Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar would lead the government “when the high command decides.” The chief minister made the comment after a breakfast meeting at Shivakumar’s residence—another public display of camaraderie between the two leaders amid ongoing attempts by the party high command to downplay their leadership rivalry.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Udupi, Dec 15: What was meant to be a post-pilgrimage gathering turned tragic in Padukere village of Brahmavar taluk, Udupi district, late Sunday night, when a clash among youths escalated into a fatal assault, leaving one man dead.

The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Santosh Mogaveera, a resident of Padukere.

According to preliminary information, the incident took place during a late-night drinking party involving a group of local youths who had recently returned after completing their pilgrimage to the Sabarimala shrine. An argument reportedly broke out among the group and soon escalated into a violent confrontation.

During the ensuing brawl, Santosh Mogaveera was allegedly assaulted and collapsed at the spot after sustaining serious injuries. He was rushed by local residents to a private hospital in Brahmavar, where doctors declared him dead.

On receiving information, senior police officials, including Brahmavar Circle Inspector Gopikrishna, Kota Police Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar T, Station ASI Manthesh Jabagoudar, and head constables Pradeep and Ashok, visited the spot and conducted an inspection.

Police have taken four youths into custody in connection with the incident. A case has been registered at the Kota police station, and further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events leading to the death.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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