Narsingh Yadav’s dream of catching a plane for Rio still looks very much intact after the wrestler was exonerated of doping charges by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) here on Monday.
Following the verdict, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said the process to get Narsingh back in the Olympic squad has been set in motion and NADA’s report will be sent to the global body United World Wrestling (UWW), that will take a final call on the issue.
Narsingh will also have to undergo the reinstatement test by NADA before he can be cleared for going anywhere.
“He will have to go through reinstatement testing before he goes anywhere,” said Narsingh’s lawyer Vidushpat Singhania.
He added, “The World Anti-Doping Agency has a right to appeal within 21 days. Till the time they do not appeal and this decision is not overturned, this decision stands. Right now he is free to compete at Rio.”
Earlier, ending week-long speculation, NADA DG Naveen Agarwal said Narsingh was a victim of sabotage and he deserved the benefit of
doubt, leading to wild celebrations among his supporters who gathered in numbers to offer their support to the wrestler.
“We kept in mind that in the past, till June 2, none of his samples were positive. It was inconceivable that one-time ingestion would be of benefit. Therefore the panel is of the view that the one-time ingestion was not intentional,” Agarwal said, while reading out the verdict.
“The panel concludes that the athlete deserves the benefit of Article 10.4 of the NADA’s anti-doping code. Keeping in view that he was victim of sabotage, the panel exonerates the athlete from charges of anti-doping rules of NADA,” he added.
Agarwal said the wrestler was not informed about the report till the July 5 sample was taken. So had he been regularly taking it, then the extent of the substance in Narsingh’s body would have been same on July 5 as on June 25.
“The report about indicative estimated concentration of prohibited substance in the sample collected on June 25 has substantially reduced in the sample collected on July 5. It is important to note that report of the first sample was not known to the athlete till the collection of second sample on July 5. Had the athlete been regularly taking it, the report of July 5 would have been positive to the extent of having the main substance.”
NADA DG also feels that the athlete cannot be held responsible for not keeping an eye on his drinks while practicing.
“The athlete pleads the only caution he failed to undertake is that he did not keep his eye on amino drinks during practice on June 23 and 24,” he said. “It is the opinion of the panel while practicing it is almost impossible to keep a watch on the drink and this can’t be held as failure on athlete’s part in taking utmost caution,” he added.
A relieved Narsingh was happy to have won the toughest battle of his life.
“This has been the toughest fight of my life. I want to forget the entire episode now and solely focus on winning a medal at the Olympics,” Narsingh said
He also placed his thanks to all the support he got from all corners of the country. With the verdict out, Narsingh has now firmly set his sights on Rio Olympics.
“While the last 10 days have been extremely tough for me, my focus is now firmly on being at my best and going all out to bring glory to the nation. All through the hearing process, I have been training and I will be putting in a lot more work in the next couple of weeks to ensure that I am physically and mentally at my peak on the mat at Rio,” he said.
Meanwhile, WFI president sounded confident that Narsingh will go to Rio and as a next step he said they will send his judgement copy to United World Wrestling (UWW).
“Right now he will go to Rio and compete in his category. You just believe that Narsingh Yadav will go to Rio Olympics. We will take the judgement copy and send it to UWW and the organising committee right now. I have full confidence that he will go to Rio and compete. Because in the judgement it is clear that he is completely innocent and there is a case of sabotaging and NADA has agreed to it,” he said.
Narsingh’s chances of competing at Olympics become even slimmer last week, when the WFI named Pravenn Rana for the replacement slot. However, Brij Bhushan said Rana’s name was only sent on July 25 because it was the last date for naming replacements to secure the Olympic quota.
Narsingh’s world came crashing down after it was revealed that the wrestler had tested positive for a banned substance, reportedly methandienone -- a banned anabolic steroid.
His hopes of competing in the Olympics had faded further after the wrestler failed a second dope test which was conducted on him on July 5. Reportedly Narsingh, already under provisional suspension for failing a June 25 dope test, has also flunked the second test done on both his ‘A’ and ‘B’ samples taken on July 5.