She was the country’s only individual athletics gold medallist at the last Asian Games but surprisingly, with only about 20 days to go for the Rio Olympics, nobody even knows where discus thrower Seema Antil Punia is right now.

Sources say that she might have travelled to Russia for training but ironically, even the Athletics Federation of India is not clear about her whereabouts. She had returned to India from the US sometime last month.

“Maybe, but she has not told the federation where she has gone,” the AFI secretary C.K. Valson told when asked whether she had gone to Russia. “We have not given her permission to go to Russia, she has not sought our permission to go too.”

Valson said that earlier Seema had sent a mail informing AFI that she would join the Indian camp in Rio on July 24, a day before the Indians athletes arrive there. But has she mentioned where she is currently?

“Probably, she must have thought that it was not necessary. She is always outside India for training under the TOP (Target Olympic Podium) Scheme. She must have informed NADA and others but I don’t know about it,” said Valson. The Union Sports Ministry has sent an advisory to the IOA and national federations to stay away from dope-tainted countries for training purposes and to avoid engaging coaches from there.

Russia and Ukraine were among the countries mentioned, according to reports.

Seema has had doping issues in the past. Her World junior gold (in 2000, India’s first) was taken away after she tested positive for a stimulant.

And in 2006, she had tested positive a second time ahead of the 2006 Doha Asian Games but was exonerated by the AFI. She now appears to be in a spot again.

Currently, she has a charge of a ‘filing failure’ against her, which means that she did not inform NADA about her whereabouts.