Narsingh Yadav’s first wrestling bout at the Olympics is only on August 19, but his road to Rio de Janeiro has become one of Indian sport’s biggest soap operas.
First, there was his selection, based on a bronze medal at the World Championships last year. The absence of selection trials upset Sushil Kumar, who, after bronze in Beijing (2008) and silver in London (2012) in the 66-kilogram category, had moved up to the 74kg division.
Sushil’s protests were rejected by the courts, but then came the news that Narsingh had tested positive for methandienone. The wrestler claimed that his amino drink had been spiked while he was training.
Sandeep Yadav, Narsingh’s roommate and sparring partner, had also tested positive. There was no clarity on whether the two had shared the same drink.
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On July 31, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) accepted Narsingh’s version of events, though it raised worrying questions about how a saboteur had entered the training camp.
The paranoia among the athletes is, however, very real.
Yogeshwar Dutt, another wrestling medal hope, has refused to eat in the common kitchen at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Sonepat, according to a report in The Indian Express.
“A trusted man cooks his food and his supplies are guarded round the clock,” it says. “‘The higher you rise, the more enemies you make,’ explains Yogeshwar simply.”
United World Wrestling (UWW) have now cleared Narsingh’s participation at the Olympics, though Wada, the world anti-doping watchdog, still have time to lodge a protest. For now, Narsingh and Sandeep are training in relative isolation in a Mumbai suburb in preparation for the trip to Brazil.
Some are dismayed by the let-off.
"Anyone who wants to take a banned substance has to ask a colleague to mix it with his food," wrote Dr PSM Chandran, president of the Indian Federation of Sports Medicine, in The Hindustan Times.
“When a positive emerges, the athlete can claim that he did not take it intentionally, and it might have been administered to him by someone else.
“To substantiate this argument, his colleague can come before the hearing panel and confess that he did mix the banned substance in the food. The present NADA panel’s verdict on Yadav has in a way offered a way out for those accused of doping to escape punishment in future.”
If after all this drama, Narsingh manages a medal in Rio, his rivals, both in India and abroad, certainly won’t be short of words.
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