For three years, Dhanalakshmi Sekar carried the weight of a label no athlete wants: banned for doping. Once hailed as one of India’s brightest young sprinters, her career seemed all but finished when the Athletics Integrity Unit handed her a three-year suspension in 2022 for testing positive for metandienone, a prohibited steroid.
On Wednesday night at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the 27-year-old silenced her critics in the best way possible. She stormed to victory in the women’s 100m final at the 64th Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships, clocking 11.36 seconds, her personal best, to claim gold for Tamil Nadu in front of a home crowd.
Her triumph was more than a medal; it was redemption.
From Promise to Ban
Back in 2021 and 2022, Dhanalakshmi looked destined for the big stage. She had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and the World Championships. But in May 2022, during training in Antalya, Turkey, her out-of-competition sample returned positive. The ban wiped away her results, erased her hard-earned recognition, and left her staring at the possibility of an abrupt end to her career.
“I don’t know what happened and haven’t been able to understand yet. I still think about it every day,” she admitted to The Bridge.
Her suspension meant three years away from the international circuit. The first year, she said, she spent away from the track entirely, working at the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board in Trichy. But the fire inside didn’t go out. With the guidance of her coach, Manikanda Arumugam, and the support of her department, she returned to intense training in 2023.
“It was not easy,” she recalled. “I received a lot of hatred online. People questioned my credibility, but I didn’t pay attention. My only focus was to perform better and silence all critics.”
A Golden Comeback
Her moment of truth came in Chennai. The women’s 100m final on Wednesday was a highly competitive race, featuring promising youngsters like Tamil Nadu’s Abinaya Rajarajan and Karnataka’s S.S. Sneha. But Dhanalakshmi showed composure and speed, surging ahead in the final stretch to win in 11.36s.
“I came here to create a meet record, but I am happy with this and will aim for a better time in the next meet,” she said after her win.
She edged out 18-year-old Abinaya (11.58s) and Sneha (11.61s), who finished second and third, respectively. Despite her victory, she wasn’t fully satisfied: “My target was to at least breach the meet record. That’s still on my mind,” she told The Bridge.
Looking Ahead
The comeback isn’t complete yet. Dhanalakshmi is scheduled to compete in the 200m later this week at the same championships. She has already made it clear that her ambition goes beyond winning medals – she wants to break records.
“My aim is only one, to break the national record in 100m and 200m, first in the 100m event,” she told The Bridge. For now, she is focusing on the 200m final: “One step at a time. First, I want to break the meet record in 200m and then set my sights on the national record.”
The Sweetness of Victory
For an athlete once ostracised and written off, this gold medal is more than an achievement – it’s vindication. The 27-year-old’s victory marked her first major national-level title since her ban.
From the weight of a ban to the weight of a medal around her neck, Dhanalakshmi Sekar has sprinted her way back into Indian athletics. Her 100m gold in Chennai may just be the beginning of a new chapter in her legacy.
Yash Desai is a renowned journalist with over 10+ years of experience covering sports around the world. He began his career as a News Reporter in Delhi, India, and got an opportunity to cover several World events, including the Olympics, Paralympics, and World Games. He often felt that women’s sports are sidelined and given step-motherly treatment by the mainstream media. To bridge this gap and to build an equal playing field, Yash co-founded FemaleInSports and is currently working as a Lead Editor here.
