Discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur is unable to compete after being provisionally suspended by the AIU ©Getty Images

Olympic discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur of India has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for a banned substance.

The AIU has announced that the Indian athlete, who finished sixth at last year's re-arranged Olympic Gamess in Tokyo, has allegedly violated World Athletics' anti-doping rules.

It has been confirmed by the AIU that Kaur had tested positive for stanozolol, a synthetic steroid derived from testosterone.

Kaur will be unable to compete until a final verdict has been made, hampering her preparations for this year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Kaur could be banned for up to four years.

The 26-year-old holds the national record in the women's discus throw after improving her mark to 66.59 metres at the Indian Grand Prix IV in June last year.

She is the only Indian female thrower to break the 65m barrier, which she achieved for the first time three months earlier at the Federation Cup.

Kamalpreet Kaur is the national record-holder in the women's discus throw and came sixth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images
Kamalpreet Kaur is the national record-holder in the women's discus throw and came sixth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ©Getty Images

During Tokyo 2020, Kaur produced the second best score in the qualification round with 64m before finishing sixth overall with 63.70m.

Stanozolol has been banned by World Athletics since 1974.

It hit the headlines during the doping case of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his 100m gold medal at the Olympics in 1988 after testing positive for the substance.