Javelin thrower DP Manu fails the drug test; he may not qualify for the Olympics in Paris
DP Manu: One of the Indians to surpass the 80-meter mark, he has withdrawn from the Inter-State Championship.
Javelin thrower DP Manu has withdrawn from the ongoing Inter-State Athletics Championships after testing positive for drugs in a National Anti-Doping Agency investigation.
Though Manu’s immediate future is uncertain, he was hoping to directly qualify for the Olympics in Paris as the emerging star of the Indian javelin scene.
“He tested positive in a NADA test during an Indian competition,” those with knowledge of the development said.
Manu is well within the 32 throwers who need to qualify for the Olympics, sitting at number 15 on the Road to Paris standings. At most, three throwers from a single country may compete in the Olympics. Neeraj Chopra, the Olympic champion, and Kishore Jena are two Indian javelin throwers who have earned Olympic qualifying spots. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, Jena qualified directly with a throw of 85.50 meters, winning a silver medal with a distance of 87.54 meters. India was using Manu to search for a third spot.
Manu set a meet record in 2022 with a personal best of 84.35 meters at the Inter-State Championships. He has taken part in three competitions so far this year. He hurled the javelin to 81.91 meters during the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru. Manu ran 82.06 meters in the Federation Cup in Bhubaneshwar, and he ran 81.58 meters in a competition in Taiwan last month. Manu received training in March at the North West University High Performance Centre in Potchefstroom as part of SAI’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme.
The 24-year-old had an incredible 2023, competing at the world championships and taking sixth place with a throw of 84.14 meters after winning silver at the Asian Athletics Championships.
There are twenty-one competitors in the men’s javelin throw at this Inter-State meet. Silver medallist Kishore Jena at the Asian Games leads the field, followed by Tokyo Olympian Shivpal Singh and injured player Rohit Yadav.
