IPC bans Indian para javelin thrower Anmol Vasistha for three years

The International Paralympic Committee has banned Indian para javelin thrower Anmol Vasistha for three years for a breach of the IPC Anti-Doping Code after an adverse analytical finding for a metabolite of dehydrochloromethyl-testosterone, or DHCMT, at the New Delhi 2026 World Para Athletics Grand Prix. The IPC announced the decision on 17 October 2026.

The in-competition urine sample was collected on 11 March 2026 during the men's javelin throw F55 event, the IPC said. DHCMT is an anabolic androgenic steroid on the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2026 Prohibited List.

The IPC provisionally suspended Vasistha on 24 April 2026, 44 days after the sample was collected, while it resolved the case. He accepted the anti-doping rule violation and the consequences the IPC proposed.

His period of ineligibility runs from 24 April 2026 to 23 April 2029, the IPC said. During that period he is barred from all competition and other sporting activities, apart from authorised anti-doping education or rehabilitation programmes.

The IPC disqualified his results in the men's javelin throw F55 competition at the Grand Prix, including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes. It also disqualified all other results he obtained at the same meeting on the same terms.

Three-year term matches Javanmardi case

The three-year term matches the ban the IPC gave Iranian para athlete Aliasghar Javanmardi in a separate oxandrolone case, the Tehran Times reported. Javanmardi's case involved two out-of-competition urine samples: one collected on 22 September 2025 by Iran's national anti-doping agency and one collected by the IPC on 24 September 2025 at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi. The IPC treated both findings as one violation. Javanmardi forfeited a gold medal from the New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships. Oxandrolone was on WADA's 2025 Prohibited List under class S.1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids.

Javanmardi's ban runs from 28 October 2025 to 27 October 2028. Vasistha's case rested on one in-competition sample at the 2026 Grand Prix, unlike both Javanmardi samples. Both athletes accepted the violation and the consequences proposed by the IPC.

The IPC said each athlete is strictly liable for substances found in their sample, and that an anti-doping rule violation occurs when a prohibited substance, or its metabolites or markers, is found in an athlete's bodily sample, whether or not the athlete used it intentionally or was at fault.

It added that it remains committed to a doping-free sporting environment as a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.