Triple jumper A.B. Arun loses National Games gold due to doping

National Games Goa medalist A.B. Arun, who won the gold medal in triple jump loses his gold medal due to a doping offense. The triple jumper jumped 16.79m at the National Games 2023, recording his personal best in his career.

His triple jump of 16.79m was also the new National Games record. The previous National Games record of 16.68m was held by the 2022 Asian Games Hangzhou bronze medalist Praveen Chithravel in the 2022 edition of the competition.

The 25-year-old got his name in the record books, jumping 0.11m extra to surpass the previous best in the tournament. However, the record has been scrapped as the Athletics Federation of India explained that the Services' athlete's participation at the National Games in Goa will not be considered.

According to the updated National Games Goa results on the Athletics Federation of India website, Arun has been disqualified (DQ) for a doping offense. Services teammate Karthik Unnikrishnan is the new gold medalist in the triple jump event at of National Games Goa with 16.57m.

Services athlete Arun was quoted as saying to The Hindu on Monday:

“My coach (Navy’s Shankar) told me about it, he sent me the updated results too but I have not got any intimation or letter about the issue.”

He continued:

“I’ve been very tense since I got the news. Now, I should talk to my coach and decide what I should do. I’ve come to Ballari for the JSW (Inspire Institute of Sport) trials, I came here about a week ago.”