Narsingh Yadav's Rio participation in jeopardy as WADA appeals against clean chit

In what come as another blow to India's campaign at Rio Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against the clean chit given to Rio-bound Narsingh Yadav by the National Anti-doping Agency (NADA) in connection with doping charges.

Confirming the news, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said Narsingh would undergo a doping hearing on August 18 in order to determine his participation in the 74kg men's freestyle category at the Summer Games.

"WADA appeals against clean chit to wrestler Yadav. Hearing will be on August18, but we are confident as our case is strong," said Sharan Singh told ANI.

India, which have sent their largest-ever contingent of 119 athletes to the Rio Olympics, is yet to open their medal account in the ongoing Summer Games.

Offering his support to Narsingh, two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar called on the former to keep his focus on the match and not to think about anything else.

Earlier, Narsingh was cleared by the United World Wrestling (UWW) to participate in the prestigious quadrennial event days after the grappler was given clean chit by the NADA.

The NADA pointed out that Narsingh was a victim of sabotage perpetrated by a fellow competitor and that the one-time ingestion by the wrestler 'was not within his knowledge'.

"The panel is treating this as a single violation because the report of the sample taken on 25th June was not notified to him till the sample taken on July 5. The panel concludes that the athlete deserves the benefit of Article 10.4 of the anti-doping rules of the NADA 2015, as there is no fault or negligence on his part and he is a victim of sabotage done by a competitor," NADA director general Navin Agarwal had said while delivering its disciplinary panel's verdict.

The 26-year-old wrestler, who bagged the quota with a bronze medal finish in last year's World Championships, was tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid on both his 'A' and 'B' samples. He was placed under provisionally suspension since then.

Prior to this, Narsingh was selected for the Rio Olympics in controversial circumstances as two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had demanded for trials to determine who should go to the games.

However, Narsingh was favoured for the same after fighting a lengthy legal battle with Sushil.