Athletics - Indian shot-putter Kaur handed four-year doping ban

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Manpreet Kaur, who won women's shot put gold at the 2017 Asian athletics championships, has received a four-year ban after testing positive for banned substances, the country's anti-doping body (NADA) has said.

Kaur failed doping tests four times in 2017, the body said, including at the Asian championships in Bhubaneswar, where she won with a throw of 18.28m, and in the first leg of the Asian grand prix in China, where her winning throw of 18.86m was a national record.

NADA had formed a disciplinary panel to hear the case and handed down the ban, which was backdated to July 2017 when the 29-year-old was provisionally suspended.

Kaur, who can appeal the sanction, will lose her gold medals from both meets, NADA Director General Navin Agarwal said.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford)