Banned 12 Hours Before Olympic Bout, Narsingh Was “Inconsolable”

Brij Bhushan Singh claimed that lawyers failed to prove Yadav’s innocence over the telephone due to short notice.

(Photo: AP)

Narsingh Yadav’s Olympic dream came to an end after the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS) handed the wrestler a four-year ban on Friday.

The news came as a shock not only to the wrestler, but to the entire nation just 12 hours before Narsingh’s first Olympic bout.

The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) had given Narsingh a clean shit on 1 August after he claimed his food or supplements had been sabotaged by a rival. However, the World Anti Doping Agency’s (WADA) appealed to the sports court on 16 August, just three days before Yadav’s match.

Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh claimed that due to the short notice, they were unable to send a lawyer for the hearing. Subsequently, through communication over the phone, Yadav’s lawyers were unable to prove the wrestler’s innocence.

CAS then upheld WADA’s appeal, since nobody had owned up and Narsingh’s party was not able to prove that the wrestler’s food was sabotaged.

Singh also cited the failure to catch the culprit behind Yadav’s food or supplements sabotaging as another reason why the case did not go in his favour.

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam