Mumbai: After a long wait some tough times on the sidelines, Ashwini Akkunji is elated to have finally realised her Olympic dream. The track athlete from Udupi, Karnataka is part of India’s 4x400 metres women’s relay team which also includes Debashree Majumdar, Jisna Mathew, M. R. Poovamma, Nirmala Sheoran and Anilda Thomas.

Ashwini won gold in the 400m hurdles at the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010. She also was part of the 4x400 m relay team event that won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Asian Games in the same year with Manjeet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur and Sini Jose.

“I am happy for myself. After long time some good has happened. I am excited to take part in such a big event,” said 28-year-old, who did India proud in 2010 by having a hand in three gold medals but soon tougher times followed.

Prior to the Asian athletics championships in Kobe (Japan) in 2011 she tested positive for anabolic steroids and Nada banned her for a year. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by the International Association of Athletics Federations against a lighter sentence and handed Ashwini and five other athletes (Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Jauna Murmu, Tiana Mary and Priyanka Panwar) a two-year ban.

Ashwini maintains she did nothing wrong deliberately and those times during the ban were the toughest for her. “All these years I faced lot of difficulty in life.
“Mentally and emotionally it was very difficult but faith and patience kept me going. This (Olympic qualification) will help me to forget past and bring through my best. My morale will be up,” said Ashwini.