Doping casts its shadow: Narsingh Yadav, villain or victim?

India got off to a worst possible start for its Rio Olympics campaign with one of its medal prospects wrestler Narsingh Yadav testing positive for a banned substance. In normal circumstance, media would have hailed this action saying that timely action by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has saved the country from shame and embarrassment. But Narsingh Yadav is no normal wrestler. Though he was the first Indian sportsperson to qualify for the Rio Olympics, he had to virtually wage a war to get what was his right. His qualification for Rio was challenged by two–time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and his mentor Satpal. The duo did everything to stop Yadav but their resistance collapsed in Delhi High Court and Yadav got the clearance. However, the unease continued. After that police security was given to Narsingh and he was also under tremendous mental pressure. It is in this backdrop, the news of Yadav testing positive is being construed as conspiracy rather than a good work by NADA. Yadav who was to represent the country in the 74kg freestyle event, expectedly, cried foul and pleaded innocence saying he has never ever taken any such drug in his career. "This is a conspiracy against me. I have never taken any banned substance," he was quoted as saying by the media and even the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has come out in support of the ‘beleaguered‘ grappler saying that Narsingh has a clean history and it seems to be a sabotage. "It is a sabotage, foul play. Narsingh has a very clean history. It's clearly a conspiracy against him." Earlier, NADA Director General Navin Agarwal informed the media saying, "Narsingh tested positive for a banned steroid. His B sample was also found to be positive. Narsingh was personally present when his B sample was opened." Narsingh had given blood samples for testing on July 5, before he left for Spain to take part in an invitational tournament — a warm-up event for the wrestlers ahead of the Olympics. The report of his 'A' sample test came out positive. Later, he was called for his 'B' sample test, which also returned positive. "He appeared before a disciplinary panel yesterday. The panel sought for more reports regarding the matter. We will proceed further and I am hoping that the panel will proceed quickly," Agarwal said. NADA, however, refused to comment on Yadav’s participation in Rio Games. "It is too early to comment in that regard. We will try to complete the whole thing quickly. I cannot speculate on that." Narsingh has been handed provisional suspension and virtually ruled out of next month's Olympics. His Olympics accreditation has also been withheld. WFI, however, put up a brave face saying it is confident about Narsingh being clean and will retest him to make things clear. Meanwhile, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) pleaded ignorance on the issue with its secretary Rajeev Mehta saying, "We are yet to receive anything on Narsingh from NADA, WADA or even the WFI." The Olympic organising committee is in touch with the IOA to know about the development. However, sources in WFI made it clear that in case Yadav is not allowed to go to Rio, no other wrestler will replace him because the date of entry of the athletes is over.