The Anti-Doping Panel of India has given Indian swimmer Sahil Pawar a four-year suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2019. Pawar, who is now 20, was 19 at the time of the test.
On January 14th, 2019, Pawar was tested in-competition at the Khelo India Youth Games 2019. An analysis performed on his sample indicated the presence of the metabolite of Methandienone, which under World Anti-Doping Association rules is a banned Class S.1.1.A Exogenous Anabolic Androgenis Steroid.
The four-year suspension has been backdated to March 20th, 2019 – the date of his provisional suspension.
The Khelo India Youth Games is one of the country’s biggest sporting events with over 6,000 participants across all sports.
On January 14th, the date of the positive test, Pawar finished tied for 3rd in the 50 free (24.53) and swam on Maharashtra’s 3rd-place 400 free relay, splitting 58.58. Racing was in a long course, 50 meter, pool.
Methandianone, which is frequently taken orally, is the most common orally taken Anabolic Androgenis Steroid taken for non-medical use. Among the high profile tests in recent years: a 2016 reanalysis of a Beijing Olympics doping sample of Belarusian shotputter Natalia Mikhnevich tested positive for the substance (as well as stanozolol), resulting in her silver medal being stripped.
Unknown to most people, India’s greatest swimmer Aaron Fernandes was also on that relay. He got his team the gold despite the 58 split. Aaron split a mindboggling 49.8, which is the fastest recorded relay split by a indian. What an inspiration, despite the poor split from the other swimmer, Aaron never gave up. True legend.
@JOHNNY I see you are talking about Aaron Fernandes’ performance but that’s not the only thing in that relay. If you watched the race, you’d know that Sahil Chopra was 5th at the start by a huge margin (10 seconds+ from top 3) and got the team to 3rd. He split a crazy 50.1 which would’ve been the fastest in history but Aaron went a bit faster in the very next leg. The most impressive thing about Chopra’s swim was that his relay start reflexes were on point. No one in India can do it better than Chopra. Another surprising thing was that he isn’t even from Maharashtra but he was willing to represent this state which was looking weak… Read more »
In fact Aaron Fernandes may be the greatest swimmer of India in terms of performance, but sahil Chopra hasn’t reached his full potential yet, standing close to 7 feet tall, this tall north Indian swimmer is built for swimming and he is capable of performing so well that even the world’s fastest swimmers will have to worry about him, sahil Chopra has a start that all swimmers can only dream about, the perfect reaction time in every race, leaping from the blocks and going past the 5mtr flag for his entry. He also has the ability to swim any race, all the way from 50 free to 1500 free and also all the strokes, he’s the most perfect swimmer ever… Read more »
I totally agree, Aaron’s anchor leg was extraordinary, he swam like a man possessed, perfect race. He did not let down his team and state, aaron will always remain a legend
I think it’s unfair that you only talk about the 2 guys Aaron Fernandes and Sahil Chopra. The relay lead off leg for Maharashtra was swum by Agnishwar and hardly anyone is talking about his 51.1 split (without a flying start). His stroke looked so effortless while doing it. They could’ve obliterated the current 4X100 NR tbh. One thing I didn’t understand though was why was he swimming in a kneeskin???… like the ones the women wear.
Yea he swam an epic opening leg. In fact it was a negative split. The kneeskin is his trademark
He could have learnt to swim instead of doping and still be faster than 58 🙁
Imagine doping just to split a 58.5 100 free🤡🤡
24.5 and 58.5 is extreme. I had a kid a few years ago that I thought was a drop-dead sprinter and even though his 50 was around the same time (24.0 iirc), his 100 was still 54low. It was on a relay though, and some kids choke, or they dive in and they’re already way behind the winner and shut down, etc. I’d bet that his best individual 100 is much faster.
While I understand where you are coming from w/ those times differentials for those 2 sprint events, its not unheard of. in ’82, Dara Torres went a 26.04, which stood as a US 13-14 NAG record for a few decades. Yet, she was unable in that summer of ’82 to break the then 13-14 girls 100 free, had not yet made the move to Mission Viejo, which likely helped in that 2nd 50 of her 100 to put her on the 84 olympic 400 free relay. She upset jill sterkel at the 82 US short course nats in 50 yd by .03. That summer of ’82 when she went that 26.04 50 free long course, she didn’t make the Worlds… Read more »