CAS delays decision on WADA appeal against Narsingh

Narsingh Yadav's fate continues to hang in the balance with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yet to announce its verdict on the appeal by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) against the clean chit to the star wrestler in a doping case.

"The meeting is now over. The decision has been kept pending and no time has been given by the CAS," Indian Chef de Mission Rakesh Gupta told reporters after the CAS meeting here on Thursday.

Narsingh was cleared of doping charges by the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) ahead of the Olympics. But the WADA decided to appeal to the CAS against the clean chit just two days before Narsingh was scheduled to compete at the Games.

With the CAS delaying its decision, Narsingh's campaign at the ongoing Rio Olympics has now been thrown into uncertainty.

According to the official website of the Rio Games, the Mumbai grappler was scheduled to start his Olympic campaign against Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France in the qualification round of the men's 74 kg Freestyle category on Friday.

The 26-year-old grappler also underwent his weigh-in on Thursday.

The ongoing CAS episode is a continuation of a long ordeal for Narsingh.

He was preferred over double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar to take part in the Olympics by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) that led to a major legal battle between the two wrestlers.

Narsingh, who bagged the quota with a bronze medal finish in last year's World Championships then ran into trouble over alleged doping offences.

He first returned positive for a banned steroid following a dope test on June 25 by NADA, before being cleared on August 1.

The WFI also communicated to the world's apex wrestling body, the United World Wrestling (UWW) that NADA has cleared Narsingh of all the doping-related charges and the 26-year-old would be re-included in the team for the 74kg competition.

The UWW gave the green light to Narsingh for participation on August 3. However, Narsingh's route had to clear the final WADA hurdle to compete, which reviewed the NADA panel verdict and challenged it at CAS for further deliberation.

Narsingh had claimed of a conspiracy to frame him and had filed a police report in this regard, although he refrained from naming anyone.

WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had backed Narsingh's claims and had asserted that a conspiracy was hatched to stop the wrestler from participating in the Olympics and this needs to be exposed in order to secure future generations of sportspersons.

(Hardev Sanotra can be reached at hardev.sanotra@ians.in)

--IANS

hs/ajb/pgh/