WFI continues to back dope tainted wrestler
Mumbai : Continuing to back dope-tainted wrestler Narsingh Yadav, a top Wrestling Federation of India official on Friday claimed the 74-kg freestyle wrestler would have clinched the silver medal had he taken part in the Rio Olympics instead of being banned for four years by the CAS.
“Narsingh would have won at least a silver medal, I can assure you,” said WFI secretary V N Prasood here on the sidelines of a press conference to announce a world level prize money event.
Narsingh was exonerated on doping charges at home by NADA which upheld his claim that his food/drink during his stay while training for the Games at Sonepat in Haryana had been spiked with the banned substance, which he had injected.CAS threw him out of the Games and also slapped a four-year ban on the Indian grappler after he failed to produce any “real evidence” regarding the sabotage theory he had presented.
Explaining the chronology of events leading to his ban Prasood said, “On August 18 Narsingh gave a medical at noon and had his weight-in at 1.30 pm. His name was even there in the fixtures. At 8.30 pm in the night CAS released their judgement.
“CAS told him give your weight, don’t worry about anything in the afternoon, we’ll give a result at night. So why should we have been thinking about it (ban),” asked Prasood.
“That’s when we actually thought that after 21st they will take any action, (that) if they want to punish they will take away medal if Narsingh had won any medal,” he said.
“The judgment was unexpected. If only they had given this verdict earlier, we could have sent Praveen Rana,” he said. Prasood defended WFI by saying Narsingh had been cleared to take part by the Indian Olympic Association, International Olympic Committee and world wrestling body, United World Wrestling before he was sent on the flight to Rio.
“How many days does WADA have to appeal? On August 2 we had a result from NADA, inside 24 hours WADA received the result. Narsingh left the country for Rio on 10th. WADA didn’t do a thing against Narsingh until the 13th. They filed an appeal on 13th, federation didn’t get any information till the 16th,” he elaborated.
“We even named Praveen Rana as a replacement just in case Narsingh would have some issues going,” he said, adding “Someone from India informed WADA that NADA only cleared Narsingh due to political pressure. That’s why WADA appealed.
“If we had sent Praveen Rana instead, and he had lost earlier, the media only would have questioned me that why Narsingh wasn’t sent despite getting clearance,” he said.
WFI has demanded a CBI inquiry into the Narsingh doping issue and Prasood explained why the wrestling federation wanted the police case to be handed over to the central investigating agency.
“We’ll also take action if Narsingh is found guilty. Otherwise, we’ll appeal if the police can find the culprit and the court finds him guilty. We’ll act after a court action. “If someone is arrested and action is taken against them the ban (by CAS) can be reduced,” he added.
