Javelin thrower DP Manu has returned positive in a dope test conducted by the National Anti Doping Agency and has pulled out of the Inter-State Athletics Championships under way here.
Manu, seen as the rising star of Indian javelin, was aiming to directly qualify for the Paris Olympics but his immediate future is in doubt.
“He has tested positive in a NADA test during a competition in India,” according to people aware of the development.
Manu is placed 15th in the Road to Paris rankings and well within the slot of 32 throwers to qualify for Olympics. A maximum of three throwers from one nation can compete at the Olympics. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena are two Indian javelin throwers who have qualified for the Olympics. Jena made the cut achieving the direct qualification mark (85.50m) at the Hangzhou Asian Games where he threw a distance of 87.54m and won a silver medal. India was looking for a third slot through Manu.
Manu has a personal best of 84.35m achieved in 2022 at the Inter-State Championships which is also a meet record. This year, he has participated in three competitions. At the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru he threw the javelin to 81.91. In the Federation Cup in Bhubaneshwar, Manu achieved a distance of 82.06m, while last month in a meet in Taiwan he reached 81.58m. Under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme of SAI, Manu trained at the North West University High Performance Centre in Potchefstroom in March.
The 24-year-old had a stellar 2023 in which he won silver at the Asian Athletics Championships and competed at the world championships where he finished sixth with a throw of 84.14m.
The men’s javelin throw has 21 participants in the Inter-State meet here. Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena heads the field with Tokyo Olympian Shivpal Singh and Rohit Yadav, who is coming back from an injury, also in fray.
