Two athletes, four wrestlers suspended after testing positive

NEW DELHI - Two athletes and four wrestlers have tested positive in random testing conducted by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) during the trials in Patiala in the run-up to the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games and provisionally suspended by their respective federations.

The wrestlers — Sumit (74kg), Mausam Khatri (96kg) and Rajiv Tomar (120kg) in men’s freestyle and Gursharanpreet Kaur (72kg) in women’s section — were part of the Commonwealth Games squad and have been replaced, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president G.S. Mander said.

The two athletes, who returned positive in the dope test conducted by NADA during the trials at Patiala from Aug 5-8, are shot putter Saurav Vij and discus thrower Akash Antil.

Vij, who was part of the Commonwealth Games squad announced Tuesday, and Antil, have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect, the Athletics Federation of India said.

“As per the report received from National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), the athletes Saurav Vij and Akash Antil were found positive in the dope test conducted during National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships held at Patiala Aug 5-8.

“They are hereby provisionally suspended with immediate effect till the pending enquiry,” Ravinder Chaudhry, Officiating Secretary, AFI, said.

The incident comes barely a week after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) bailed out the weightlifters by giving an interest-free loan to the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) to pay off fines due to doping sanctions.

In wrestling, WFI named Narsingh Pancham Yadav (74kg), Anil Mann (96kg) and Praveen (120kg) in the freestyle section and Anshu Tomar (72kg) in the women’s section as replacements in the 21-member squad which include seven women.

The wrestlers tested positive for a banned substance called Methylhexanamine. The tests were part of routine random testing by the NADA during the Aug 8-9 trials in the run-up to the Games.

The suspended wrestlers can appeal against the result, but the WFI had to name their replacements since Thursday was the last date for official entries of participants.

A dejected Mander said in an emergency meeting Thursday the WFI decided to provisionally suspend the four wrestlers.

“During the trials we tested all the probables and these four wrestlers tested positive. The Methylhexanamine is a stimulant and it is easily available at medical stores. Now we have sent them a notice and we will take necessary action against them,” Mander told IANS.

Mander said that in the last four years, since Sushil Kumar’s bronze in Beijing Olympics, Indian wrestling has come a long way and WFI is trying its best to keep the sport dope-free.

“We have adopted a strict policy against doping. The WFI has conducted several out-of-competition testing this year and only these four have tested positive. We have come down hard on cheaters,” said Mander, after the emergency meeting of the selection committee at the K.D. Jadhav Wrestling Stadium.