New Delhi, September 5
Embarrassment piled on India ahead of the next month’s Commonwealth Games with three swimmers, two of them part of the country’s team for the mega-event, flunking dope tests here today.

Richa Mishra, adjudged the best female swimmer of the 64th National Aquatic Championship in Jaipur, along with fellow CWG teammate Jyotsana Pansare and Amar Muralitharan, tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a stimulant banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency this year.

Intended to be a nasal decongestant, it is marketed as a dietary supplement.

Swimming Federation of India secretary Virender Nanavati confirmed the development and said both Richa and Jyotsana would be withdrawn from the team if their ‘B’ samples also turned out to be positive.

“We have been informed by the National Anti-Doping Agency about the three swimmers failing dope tests. Their samples were collected during the National Championships in Jaipur,” Nanavati said.

Of the three who have been caught in the doping net, Muralitharan had earlier flunked a dope test in 2003 as well, but was cleared later that year. — PTI