The case of India’s Seema Antil testing positive, reported exclusively by The Sunday Express, has already come to the notice of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which is ‘‘closely monitoring the case’’.

As it seemed today, Antil’s case is unlikely to lie low or die out. WADA media relations manager Frederic Donze, who is also one of the observers here at the Asian Games, said they had picked up ‘‘the press report’’ and were following it up.

A WADA follow-up does not mean any interference in the internal process of the issue, but Donze made it clear that the watchdog body now has more teeth to deal with such issues ‘‘after the WADA Code came into effect in January 2004.’’

What happens if the Athletics Federation of India fails to report this case to the WADA or to IAAF, the world body? Earlier, the WADA would have been mute observers without any ability to override the national body’s intransigence or take any action on its own. ‘‘Now WADA has the right to appeal,’’ Donze told The Indian Express.

While the WADA will go ahead and liaise with the AFI and IAAF on this (for Antil, it will be the second case, being exonerated on technical grounds in the first instance, hence all is on record), Donze said ‘‘we can also appeal.’’ This appeal could be at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) where three arbiters can be chosen from the ‘‘hundreds of expert lawyers around’’ and the process of arbitration is carried on. If the WADA is not satisfied with the way the Antil case is dealt with, it can pull all interested parties to court and make sure that necessary sanctions are put in place.

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