Narsingh Yadav’s hopes of winning an Olympic medal in Rio de Janeiro are virtually over. India’s big bet for a podium finish in wrestling, in all likelihood, will unfortunately miss the Rio bus after the grappler was found to have tested positive for a banned
substance by the National Anti-Doping Agency. Although the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has publicly and clearly backed Narsingh, saying that the wrestler has been “unfairly targeted”, the Sports Ministry has already released a list of 119 sportspersons that will represent India in Rio. Narsingh’s name has been struck off from the original 120-member contingent. While Sports Minister Vijay Goel insisted that Narsingh
will be given a fair chance to defend himself and clear his
name, the wrestler is running out of time to prove his innocence.
Goel stated that “justice will be served”, but in Narsingh’s
case, it could be too late and would have cost him a shot at
an Olympic medal. Instead of fine-tuning his skills for a final
push for a medal in a career-defining
event, he finds himself in a situation
which could spell doom for
his lifelong ambition.
There are a lot of arguments that favour
Narsingh’s case. The WFI says
that Narsingh has a clean record
and would be foolish to jeopardise
his career by taking a banned substance
just days before the Olympics. “It is our duty to protect
Narsingh and all our wrestlers. Narsingh’s record is clean,”
WFI chief Brij Bhushan said defending the wrestler. The case
has also flummoxed the observers who know the science of
doping. At a time when, wrestlers try to keep in shape just
ahead of the Games, why would Narsingh inject himself with
methandienone ” a banned anabolic steroid which helps
build and repair muscle, which is popular with body builders.
Narsingh did not need to take it. The question is if there is no
motive, why the athlete would take it, and if he didn’t take it,
how it appeared in the dope test.
Clearly, the wrestler shouldn’t have been in this situation. But
the irony is that it’s the federation that has failed in its duty. If
our athletes were protected as claimed by Bhushan, this crisis
would have been averted. This whole Narsingh saga bodes
poorly for Indian sport. But then again, the future of Indian
sport has never really been very bright to begin with. We can’t
take care of an athlete who has the guts to keep going without
the fame, without the comforts of home, with a system that
can barely give them sanitary living conditions and even the
basic protection that a national athlete deserves. We might all
sympathise with Narsingh for missing the flight to Rio, but we
support a doping-free Olympics.
