No late replacement, Wrestling Federation of India meets PM Modi

The Wrestling Federation of India seems in no mood to send a “late replacement” in the 74kg weight category wrestling event at the Rio Olympics, which is barely 10 days away. This means if Narsingh Yadav, whose Rio dreams is virtually over after being caught doping for methandienone on June 25, fails to convince the Nada disciplinary panel on Wednesday, there will be no Indian representation in the category.

Speaking to this paper, Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajiv Mehta said that they had got an extension to send a late entry from the Rio Olympic organising committee.

“We are awaiting a replacement from the WFI, but they don’t seem interested to send any. It’s the last date today to send the name after we were given an extension,” Mehta said.

It has been learnt that the WFI had earlier sent Jitendra’s name (as reserve) in the provisional list for 74kg weight category. Interestingly, the federation didn’t send any names when they learnt about Narsingh’s positive dope test on July 16.

It is learnt that Nada had specially opened its office on July 16, a Saturday, and informed the WFI about Narsingh’s test result giving the federation two days time to decide on a replacement before the July 18 deadline for sending entries for the Games.

The International Olym-pic Committee rules allow a last minute replacement on medical or exceptional circumstances. However, Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Saran Singh said he didn’t know about the test result until July 19, a day after the entry deadline is over.

But National Anti Doping Agency director general Navin Aggarwal told this paper: “We have notified the wrestler, Wada, international wrestling federation (Fila) and the WFI on the same day, i.e. July 16. So there is no question that WFI wasn’t kept in the loop.”

Later in the day, WFI president met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the matter. He further said that the morale of the entire Rio-bound wrestling team was low following the fiasco. The team — scheduled to travel Georgia this week — are reluctant to go for the for the training stint.

‘Nada following Wada guidelines’ Questions were raised over Nada conducting frequent tests on Narsingh recently. The dope control officers took Narsingh’s samples on June 2, June 25 and July 5 — three tests in a span of one month, which the WFI president called ‘suspicious’. Clarifying the issue, Aggarwal said that the agency was following World Anti-Doping Agency directions.

“Ahead of any major competitions, like Olympics, we conduct more tests on athletes than usual. And the sport which has high chances of doping, we go for random tests. We tested Narsingh on June 2, then we got a direction from the Wada for the June 25 test. And July 5 test was ahead of a competition in Spain,” Aggarwal told this paper.

At an event in the capital, sports minister Vijay Goel hinted that Narsingh’s chances of competing in Rio are virtually over but said the wrestler would be given a fair chance to defend himself. “In Narsingh’s case, we will ensure that Wada Code is implemented,” he said, after his introductory remark that India will be represented by 119 sportspersons (from earlier 120) at the Rio Olympics.