After a three-year hiatus, sprinter Dhanalakshmi Sekhar announced her return to the pinnacle of Indian athletics in spectacular fashion, concluding her campaign at the 64th Senior National Inter-State Athletics Championship with three gold medals. The 27-year-old from Tamil Nadu, who had previously beaten stars like Hima Das and Dutee Chand, sealed her triumphant comeback on Saturday by winning the 200m final, adding to her earlier victories in the 100m and 4x100m relay events.
Despite her dominant performance in Chennai, Dhanalakshmi admitted to feeling extremely nervous at her first major event since the ban, feeling more pressure than she did at her debut nationals. While thrilled with the three gold medals, her ambition remains undiminished. "To win three gold on return feels happy, but I’m not satisfied," she said, revealing that she had been targeting national records and expects to be back to her best at her next event.
Her triumphant return follows a painful three-year doping ban, which she received after failing an out-of-competition test just before the Commonwealth Games. Dhanalakshmi maintains her innocence, which she says made the ordeal even more agonizing. "If I’d done it, I would have thought, ‘Ok, I did it and I’ve to pay the price for it’. But I didn’t know how it happened," she shared. During her time away from the sport, she worked as a sports officer and, according to her coach Manikanda Arumugam, became completely detached from athletics, losing her strength and falling into depression.
The journey back to the track was a grueling one, described by her coach as "starting from zero." After being convinced by Arumugam to attempt a comeback, Dhanalakshmi faced immense physical and mental challenges. Her running basics were off, and she struggled for months to rebuild her strength and endurance. "There were many times she said, ‘Sir, I’m done. I don’t want to run anymore,’" Arumugam recalled. "I’d to keep convincing her that she can be back at the top. She had to be pushed."
Ultimately, for Dhanalakshmi, the true victory was not the medals, but the feeling of acceptance from the athletics community. She recounted a pre-tournament meeting with C. Latha, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Athletics Association, with immense gratitude. "I thought she wouldn’t support me. But I was totally taken aback by how she welcomed me. That trust was really good.” For the comeback star, it is this combination of trust, hard work, and self-belief that has truly brought her life back on track.