Narsingh Yadav Cleared of Doping Charges, Headed to Rio?

WFI to go to United World Wrestling with the verdict to confirm Narisngh’s inclusion to India’s Rio contingent.

Narsingh Yadav. (Photo: Reuters)

In a sensational turn of events, Narsingh Yadav has been exonerated of doping charges by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), which ruled that the wrestler was a victim of “sabotage” and deserved the benefit of doubt.

Ending the suspense of the last few days, NADA DG Naveen Agarwal read out a statement clearing Narsingh, leading to wild celebrations among his supporters.

We kept in mind that in the past, till 2 June , 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. 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 a sabotage, the panel exonerates the athlete from charges of anti-doping rules of NADA.

Narsingh Yadav, Director General, National Anti-Doping Agency

Narsingh, who had been replaced by Parveen Rana in the Rio-bound squad, was present at the NADA headquarters when the decision was taken on Monday. But the Wrestling Federation of India said Narsingh would now be brought back into the squad.

Narsingh will most likely be back in the wrestling squad of India for Rio Olympics. We are going to United World Wrestling (UWW) with the verdict.

Brij Bhushan Singh, President, WFI

Narsingh Yadav’s supporters gather outside the NADA office to support the wrestler. (Photo: PTI)

The NADA reached the conclusion after three days of marathon hearings last week during which Narsingh’s lawyers argued that the wrestler had been sabotaged by rivals. Narsingh had even filed a police complaint, naming two fellow wrestlers, one of whom is a 17-year-old. Narsingh had returned positive for methandienone – a banned anabolic steroid, following which he cried foul, claiming that the entire episode was a conspiracy against him.

Earlier, the argument put forth by NADA was that Narsingh was not eligible for remission, which he had been asking for, because he failed to establish that he did not commit any fault or negligence.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)