DOHA, Dec 3: India have withdrawn woman shot putter Seema Antil from the Asian Games after she reportedly tested positive for a banned drug in pre-competition tests at home, a team official told AFP on Sunday.

Antil, 23, was sent home from the Asiad training camp in Muscat last week after tests conducted by the Sports Authority of India in November showed an unspecified banned drug in her urine sample.

It appears traces of steroid beyond permissible limits were found in the A sample of her urine test.

Antil had earlier tested positive for ephidrene at the world junior championships in Santiago, Chile in 2000 which she had blamed on a cough syrup.

India has regularly conducted out-of-competition tests following a string of positive tests at world meets like the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.

India was banned from all international weightlifting competitions for a year, until next March, following four positive dope tests before and during the Commonwealth Games in Australia earlier this year.—AFP