New Delhi: India's sports minister yesterday sacked the Ukrainian coach of the country's top female 400m runners after six of them tested positive for banned steroids in a major doping scandal.
"I have asked for his removal. He has already been removed," Ajay Maken told a news conference in New Delhi, referring to Yuri Ogrodnik, who coached three of the six athletes who won gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games last year.
Late Monday, one of India's brightest female track stars, Ashwini Akkunji, joined her 4x400-metre relay team-mates Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur in failing a drugs test because of traces of a banned anabolic steroid in her urine.
Akkunji, Jose and Kaur were part of India's Commonwealth and Asian Games-winning team in New Delhi and Guangzhou, China, last year. Akkunji also took the 400m hurdles Asiad title in a personal best time.
The trio are among eight athletes — six female 400m runners, a female shotputter and a male long-jumper — who have now failed drugs tests.
