New Delhi: Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia stated he’ll attraction towards the four-year ban imposed by the Nationwide Anti Doping Company (NADA) for an anti-doping rule violation on the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Olympic medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia. (PTI)
Bajrang was banned by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) of NADA on Tuesday for refusal to present a pattern in the course of the choice trials in March. The completed wrestler stated on Wednesday that he by no means “refused” to present the pattern and that he was being focused for operating a motion in help of protesting girls wrestlers and elevating his voice towards NADA for coming with expired kits to gather his pattern on a earlier event.
“I will appeal in CAS and I will fight till the end. I have all the proof,” Punia stated in a video message on social media.
Bajrang also can attraction earlier than the Anti-Doping Attraction Panel. His lawyer Vidushpat Singhania stated they’re weighing all choices. “Bajrang has expressed his desire that he wants to appeal against the decision. We will see whether we go to CAS or ADAP,” he stated.
The wrestler was one of many faces of the protests towards former Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“They are targeting me. It has been happening since the protests. They have collected my sample six times, and even though I was not competing I never refused. Is it my fault that I was standing with our women wrestlers? When they came to collect my sample on December 13 with expired kits, I raised my voice because I had lost faith in the system,” he stated.
Bajrang made a video of the expired kits and posted on social media on December 15. “I also wrote three-four mails to NADA from December to March asking what action it had taken regarding this concern. Till date I have not been given any answer,” Bajrang stated.
Nonetheless, the occasions that led to his ban occurred on March 10, the day of the choice trials in Sonepat for the Olympic qualifiers.
“They are saying Bajrang left the venue without giving dope sample but I have proof (I did not leave). They came to collect my sample in between my bouts. They did not show any ID proof. I had another bout and according to rule they cannot come and ask for sample in between competition. I told them you come and talk to me after my bout. I met the SAI doctor at the venue for a medical certificate (injury), handed over it to the coaches and then left the venue. In between, nobody from NADA (DCO) came to me for dope test,” he stated.
The DCO has additional said that the “athlete was surrounded by his supporters and was continuously repeating his statement and had immediately left the venue by refusing to give the dope sample.”
On the difficulty of check kits previous the expiry date, NADA, in its submission earlier than the panel, stated it had instantly taken motion towards the DCO involved when it got here to their data.
“The Athlete is trying to mix up two different dope tests and take benefit in the Anti-Doping Rule Violation committed by him, by intentionally refusing to the DCO of NADA to submit for sample collection on 10.03.2024,” NADA stated on the listening to.
The three-member ADDP underneath the chairmanship of Vineet Dhanda dominated that Bajrang failed to present any “compelling justification for refusing to submit to sample collection.”
“…it is an “undisputed position that Bajrang refused to submit his urine sample on March 10 at the National Center of Excellence (NCOE), Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sonepat.” The panel discovered him in violation of Article 2.3 of the Anti-Doping Guidelines 2021 that pertains to “Evading, Refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection.”