Abha Khatua left out of Paris Olympics due to hormonal regulations: Reports

Shot putter Abha Khatua’s mysterious exclusion from the Paris Olympics 2024 has taken an interesting turn. On Wednesday, July 17, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) released the list of Indian contingent that would be taking part in the quadrennial event from July 26 onwards and Khatua did not feature in it.

Khatua broke into the squad riding on her world rankings quota after she was ranked No. 21 in the world, but the rub of the green did not favor her eventually. India finalized 117 athletes and 140 support staff that would be flying to Paris.

An official statement on reason for Khatua’s exclusion is yet to be released by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). However, as per The Times of India's sources, World Athletics (WA) might have disallowed Khatua from taking part in the showpiece event after she could not comply with hormonal regulations ahead of the Olympics.

“It is more or less clear that she has not failed a dope test. The most likely reason for Khatua’s exit just days before the start of the Olympic Games could be because she failed to meet WA’s DSD regulation,” sources were quoted as saying by the Times of India (TOI).

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AIU collected Abha Khatua’s blood sample

It has also been learned that the officials of Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) might have collected Khatua’s blood sample during the Asian Championships in Bangkok in 2023.

“Recently, the AIU officials had collected samples of several athletes, including Khatua, during the Inter-State meet in Panchkula,” experts were quoted as saying by TOI.

Back in May, Khatua performed exceptionally during the National Federation Cup Athletics Competition that took place in Bhubaneswar.

She set the national record in women’s shot put with a throw of 18.41 metres, although she was way short of the Olympics qualification mark of 18.80 metres. She jointly held the previous record with Manpreet Kaur and now solely owns it.

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