The NADA Disciplinary Panel is still going through certain documents and examining a few witnesses before taking a decision but even his closest supporters have given up hope on wrestler Narsingh Yadav going to Rio.
While the arguments in the case were over late on Thursday evening, NADA officials clarified that the formal hearing, in fact, was not over yet. “The Panel wished to examine some witnesses from the defence including the cook at the SAI training centre. They also wanted to examine the veracity of certain documents submitted by Yadav's counsel and had also sought some more details. Only after that will the decision be submitted to the NADA,” officials confirmed.
Sources said the panel was also waiting for a report from the Haryana Police regarding the criminal case filed by Yadav against certain people for spiking his food. The case was filed on Wednesday. The lawyers had indicated a result was likely by Saturday or Monday. But Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) officials admitted that they were only thinking of saving his career at the moment.
“The kind of mental stress he has undergone in the last 10 days cannot be undone in even 10 months. Olympics is not just another tournament, you need both physical and mental strength to perform well there. We believe in his innocence but we also admit that we do not feel he is in any shape to be a strong medal contender any more. What we want now is to ensure that he comes out of this mess and starts working towards the 2020 Games,” a federation official said.
“He is talented and only 26, there is a lot of wrestling left in him still. We want him to strive for the Tokyo Games, get a medal there and prove himself to the world,” the official added. Till now, both the WFI and the IOA had maintained that a clean chit to Yadav may still see him board the flight to Rio.
NADA lawyer Gaurang Kanth had no information till Friday night about the judgement date . NADA had sought a minimum ban of 2-4 years for the offence under WADA rules even though the defence has sought remission citing no fault or negligence.
Yadav's case rests primarily on establishing a precedence of sabotage cases internationally to prove there has been a connspiracy. One of the cases mentioned by his lawyers is reportedly that of Belgian judoka Charline Van Snick, bronze medallist at the London Olympics who successfully appealed against a two-year ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport following a positive test for cocaine in 2014. Then, as now, Van Snick had claimed sabotage and also filed a criminal case against unnamed persons. The CAS agreed with her.
Meanwhile in the other doping case, shot-putter Inderjeet Singh has filed for testing his B sample from the June 22 test that he failed for a cocktail of steroids. His test on June 29 was clean but that was an in-competition test.
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