In April 2022 the India National Anti-Doping Agency (INADA) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the basketball player Shashank J. Ray after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance 19-norandrosterone (Nandrolone).
Following notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of India (ADDPI).
The Athlete explained that analysis of his supplements had revealed no prohibited substances. He alleged with evidence and scientific literatur that his consumption of pig meat, contaminated with Nandrolone, had caused the positive test.
The Panel finds that the presence of a prohibited substance has been established in the Athlete's samples and accordingly that he committed an anti-doping rule violation. The Panel concludes that the Athlete failed to demonstrate that the violation was not intentional, nor the source of the prohibited substance.
The Panel deems that the concentrations of 19-norandrosterone found in the Athlete's samples were too high to be attributed to meat contamination as corroborated in the scientific reports. Further the Panel finds that the Athlete failed to demonstate that he was a regular consumer of pork, nor that he had consumed meat at the material time, nor that this meat was contamined.
Therefore the ADDPI decides on 13 October 2022 to impose a 4 year period of inelgibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the provisional suspension.
