Top Indian race walker Bhawna handed 16-month ban for ''whereabouts failure'' by NADA panel
New Delhi, Aug 23: Top Indian race walker Bhawna Jat has been handed a 16-month ban for whereabouts failure by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary (ADDP) Panel of the NADA after she committed the offence in August last year.
Bhawna, a former national record holder in women's 20km race walk, was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency in August last year and she was recalled from Budapest where she had reached to take part in the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Her 16-month ban period will, however, begin from August 10, 2023, the date of provisional suspension. Her ban will thus be over on December 10 this year.
The ADDP's decision to hand her the suspension under Article 2.4 of the NADA Rules was delivered on July 10 but it was published on the website of the national anti-doping watchdog only on Thursday.
Under Article 2.4, "Any combination of three (3) missed tests and/or filing failures, as defined in the International Standard for Results Management, within a twelve (12) month period by an Athlete in a Registered Testing Pool" constitutes 'Whereabouts Failures' by an athlete.
The 28-year-old Bhawna had also missed two dope tests in May and June 2023 and was warned for a filing failure in late 2022.
Jat had then blamed her failure to fulfil NADA's whereabouts conditions to glitches in the mobile application, through which she had to fill up the form, and subsequently losing her phone.
She had told PTI that her whereabouts failure was not intentional.
"I don't know how this happened. I had gone somewhere. I was not able to receive the OTP on the (mobile) application and later I lost my phone as well. This is the reason I wasn't able to update my whereabouts," she had said.
Bhawna had competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She had won gold in the 20km race-walk event at the National Inter-State Championships in June last year.
There are two types of whereabouts failures -- filing failures and missed tests.
Under the World Athletics Anti-Doping (WADA) rules, any combination of whereabouts failures -- filing failure and/or missed test -- within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation, for which the applicable sanction is two years ineligibility, subject to reduction to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault of the athlete.
Athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide a full address for their overnight location, the name and full address of each location where they train, work or conduct other regular scheduled activities, as well as the usual time-frames of each activity.
RTP athletes must also identify a 60-minute window and location for each day of the quarter, during which they must be available for testing. Failure to comply with whereabouts and testing obligations will result in a whereabouts failure.
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
