Narsingh Yadav cleared of doping charges

Wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s Olympic dreams remained alive after the National Anti-Doping Agency’s disciplinary panel exonerated him of all charges, accepting the sabotage theory advanced by his legal team.

However, a final decision on his travel will depend on several factors, including his mental condition and the approval of the international wrestling federation and the IOC Organising Committee for the Rio Games.

Amid raucous supporters of Narsingh, NADA director-general Navin Aggarwal read out the panel’s report that justified its verdict on the basis of Narsingh’s clean record, the quantity of prohibited substance found in the two samples (collected on June 25 and July 5) and the fact that no case of fault or negligence could be made out against the 26-year-old wrestler. The panel held marathon hearings for three days before arriving at the conclusion.

A relieved Narsingh insisted that he was all set for Rio. Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said they would ask the international body and the IOC Organising Committee to re-allocate the 74-kg quota to Narsingh, who won it at the World Championships last year. The federation had named Praveen Rana, now in Georgia for training, as his replacement pending NADA’s decision.