Indian archer Prathamesh Jawkar’s oversight has most likely ended his chances to be part of the Asian Games. Prathamesh, who was part of the trio including Ojas Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma that won the compound team gold at the 2023 Asian Games, has been served a notice of charge for three whereabouts failures.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) in a letter has asked him to respond to the charge latest by Monday for failing to file his whereabouts thrice in the last 12 months. He has been served a notice under article 2.4 of the anti-doping rules violation that requires filing of their whereabouts for out-of-competition testing.
It states, “Violation of applicable requirements regarding athlete availability for out-of-competition testing including failure to provide required whereabouts information and missed tests which are declared based on reasonable rules.”
In Prathamesh’s case it is alleged he missed filing his whereabouts thrice in the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) in the last 12 months. Athletes who are part of the registered testing pool (RTP) have to routinely update their whereabouts in the system, where they have to submit their whereabouts information with specific date and time for the next three months. If the whereabouts change, then the athlete has to update the information on ADAMS.
The archer has two options. He can either contest the charge or accept his fate. The maximum sentence under article 2.4 of the anti-doping rules violation is two years. Prathamesh has conceded that it was a big oversight on his part. “It is unfortunate but it is a fault from my side nonetheless,” Prathamesh told The Tribune on Saturday. He was to take part in the ongoing National Ranking Archery Tournament that started in New Delhi but has been advised to sit out due to the notice. “I was so engrossed in my training I failed to notice. I hope other archers who are part of the probables for the Asian Games and other major tournaments take my case as an example and not repeat the same mistake,” he added.
