NEW DELHI — Tokyo
Olympic Games bronze medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia has been suspended for
four years for refusing to provide a urine sample for anti-doping testing
during the national team trials in March 2024. According to reports, Punia was
earlier handed a provisional suspension and following a hearing, the ban was
confirmed as per Article 10.3.1 of NADA’s Anti-Doping Rules, which relates to
deliberately avoiding a dope test, which is deemed as an anti-doping rule
violation.
Punia had challenged his provisional suspension, which was
imposed on April 23, 2024, with NADA’s Anti-Disciplinary Doping Panel (ADDP)
and got it revoked in May 2024, pending a formal notice of charge. NADA
eventually served a formal notice on June 23, 2024. After written submissions
from Punia and hearings held on September 20 and October 4, the ADDP ruled in
favour of NADA and ordered the enforcement of a four-year ineligibility period
starting April 23, 2024.
With the United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport's world
governing body, also suspending Bajrang in April, the Indian wrestler will not
only be unable to participate in events but also can't take up coaching roles
till the end of the suspension period.
“Needless to say the lifting of the provisional suspension
for the period from 31.05.2024 to 21.06.2024 shall not be credited into the
total period of ineligibility of four years,” the ADDP clarified.
In the hearing before the ADDP, Punia argued that his
refusal to give a sample for testing was not deliberate but driven by mistrust
lack of trust in NADA's processes. He also claimed that the sample collector
was using an expired kit and cited previous instances in which expired testing
kits were allegedly provided. He claimed that his objection was to NADA using
the "expired kits" and not for providing a sample.
Punia also claimed that the situation was exacerbated by his
dispute with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and his involvement with
the protests against its former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
On its part, NADA maintained that the athlete’s actions were
deliberate. “The outright refusal by the athlete to provide a urine sample for
the dope test was intentional and deliberate” and demonstrated disregard for
anti-doping responsibilities outlined in Articles 20.1 and 20.2 of the 2021
rules.
The ADDP accepted NADA's contentions and imposed a four-year
ineligibility on Punia, who won a bronze medal in men's freestyle 65kg in the
Tokyo Olympics.
Bajrang Punia is one of India's most decorated wrestlers
with multiple medals in the World Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth
Games, Asian Championships, and Commonwealth Championships in a decade-long
international career starting with the 2013 Asian Championships in New Delhi,
when he came into the limelight.
