Sneha.
| Photo Credit: Stan Rayan
Quartermiler Sneha Kolleri has been forced out of the Indian team for this week’s Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea after testing positive for a banned substance.
“I came to know that she is not coming to Korea because she failed a dope test,” a top source told The Hindu from Gumi, the Asian Championships venue, on Sunday.
No details regarding the prohibited substance or when the test was taken were available.
Suffered an injury: Sneha
When contacted, Sneha denied she had failed a dope test.
“I suffered an ankle twist and am unable to run,” said the 26-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram.
National camper Sneha was part of the Indian mixed relay team at the World Relays in China two weeks ago, her first major international event, and had been named for the Asian Championships team in both the women’s and mixed relays.
The Kerala athlete was the fourth fastest Indian 400m runner this year — behind Aishwarya Mishra, Rupal Chaudhray and Vithya Ramraj — and had claimed the bronze in last month’s Federation Nationals in Kochi clocking a personal best 53.00s which also put her eighth in this year’s Asian list. Till last year, her personal best was 53.51.
She had also clocked a 200m personal best (23.59) in the Indian Grand Prix in Thiruvananthapuram on May 17.
Sandramol also misses out
It is learnt that another quartermiler, Sandramol Sabu, could not travel to South Korea as she had suffered a knee injury. That could further weaken the mile relay team.
Strangely Aishwarya Mishra, the country’s fastest quartermiler this year — 51.12 while winning the National Games gold in Dehradun in February — and last year’s fastest 400m runner Kiran Pahal (50.92s) skipped the Federation Nationals which was the Athletics Federation of India’s qualification event for the Gumi Asians.
Published – May 25, 2025 05:17 pm IST