Dr Manmohan Singh, chairman of the medical commission of the Indian Olympic Association, confirmed to The Indian Express that the Olympic Council of Asia had been informed about Santhi failing the test. He said the matter was now pending with the Asian Games jury which had to take a call on the medal.

In Tamil Nadu, officials of the state sports department and the Sports Development Authority were in a fix whether to go ahead with a felicitation function, scheduled for 10 am tomorrow in Chennai, where Santhi and three other state athletes were to receive cash prizes from Chief Minister Karunanidhi for their performance at the Doha Asiad.

Officials said they had no information on the whereabouts of the 25-year-old sprinter who had done both the nation and her home Kathakkurichi, a little known village in Pudukkottai, proud at the Games.

The Pudukkottai district sports officer had even brought Santhi’s parents, both workers at a brick kiln, to Chennai so that they could be at the function tomorrow to share their daughter’s glory.

“We have no clue where she is. She has not contacted us so far. Until now, the state government has not received official information from anyone about Santhi being likely to be stripped of her silver medal. No one, not even the Ministry of Sports, Indian Olympics Association, nor officials of the Doha Asian Games have contacted us. Without official intimation, we cannot come to any conclusion,” G A Rajkumar, Tamil Nadu Secretary for Sports and Youth Welfare, told The Indian Express. He said he had informed the Secretary to the Chief Minister about reports on Santhi.

“I have done this so that the Chief Minister can decide whether tomorrow’s felicitation function should be held as scheduled or postponed. There is no news of Santhi yet,” Rajkumar said, pointing out that the athlete had won medals at the Asian Championship and the South Asian Federation Games in Sri Lanka earlier this year but the question of putting her through a “gender test” was never raised.

A shocked P Nagarajan, Santhi’s chief coach and founder member of the Prime Sports Academy, who was instrumental in providing her training when she received no financial assistance from the state government or private sources, told reporters that the report, if true, would be a “big blow to us”. Flooded with calls from the media, Nagarajan said he had taken Santhi under his wings “on humanitarian grounds”.

The Academy as well as Santhi’s village had celebrated her win at the Doha Games. “If the reports are true, then it is indeed very sad and extremely disappointing,” he said.