Asian Games heptathlon champion Swapna Barman provisionally suspended by NADA after positive test
On August 20, 2026, India’s Asian Games heptathlon gold medallist Swapna Barman was listed by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) as provisionally suspended after testing positive for the anabolic-androgenic steroid Boldenone; NADA has said disciplinary proceedings will continue despite her recent retirement.
The 29-year-old’s name appears in NADA’s latest list of provisionally suspended athletes and the positive finding was confirmed through laboratory analysis. "The due procedure will be followed and she stands provisionally suspended despite her retirement. She will have to appear for a hearing and can seek a B sample test," a well-placed source in the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) told PTI.
The same NADA list also includes hockey player Mayank Sharma, who received a four-year ban for failing an out-of-competition test last year, and 19-year-old runner Sanjana Singh, who has been given a five-year ban after testing positive for prohibited steroids last year. Both Mayank and Sanjana had been serving provisional suspensions prior to their bans, and Barman was described as the biggest name to emerge from the latest sanctions list.
Barman won India’s first Asian Games heptathlon gold when she finished on top at the 2018 Jakarta Games and has been identified in media accounts as a former Asian champion. She represented India at the 2016 Olympic Games and announced her retirement at the beginning of this month, saying an "injury-plagued body" could no longer take the rigours of competition.
Boldenone was reported in the announcement as decreasing testosterone levels and having no medicinal use for the human body, and, in Barman’s case, the substance was detected using Gas Chromatography-Combustion-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry, an advanced analytical technique to distinguish natural hormones from synthetic ones.
Personal details noted in coverage of Barman’s career include that she was born with six toes on each foot and that sportswear brands produced customised shoes for her after her Asiad victory. She had complained that standard five-toe shoes caused blisters, grew up in extreme poverty in Ghospara village near Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, and recently contested and lost a state assembly election on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
She will be required to attend a hearing and may request a B sample analysis, and, according to the NADA source, "If she decides to come out of retirement at any point in her life, all sanctions against her will stand in case she is found guilty in the formal hearing, a ban will be imposed. A retirement announcement does not absolve anyone of doping offences," the source added.