Sumit Malik was one of many athletes to unveil India’s uniform for the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday afternoon. By late night, it was revealed that the wrestler himself wouldn’t be capable to put on the blue jersey.
The day the Indian Express reported {that a} wrestler heading for the Olympics had failed a dope check, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) confirmed that he was Malik. The heavyweight wrestler examined constructive for a banned substance throughout an Olympic qualifying event in Sofia, Bulgaria, final month.
United World Wrestling (UWW), the game’s governing physique, on Thursday briefly suspended the 28-year-old for six months. Unless UWW accelerates to conclude the listening to course of earlier than the beginning of the Games on 23 July, Malik won’t be able to compete in Tokyo. Even if the method is accomplished by then, his possibilities of competitors are slim. And since an unsuccessful check happened throughout a qualifying event, India would lose the 125kg weight class quota.
WFI secretary VN Prasood mentioned he was knowledgeable about Malik’s alleged doping violations on Thursday night time.
“We received communication on Thursday night that Sumit’s sample collected during the Olympic qualifying tournament had come positive. UWW has temporarily suspended him and India also lost their quota in that category. It is unfortunate,” Prasud mentioned.
Grappler, a product of Chhatrasal Stadium in New Delhi, received gold on the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a silver on the Asian Championships a yr in the past.
Malik, who didn’t remark when contacted, examined constructive for a stimulant known as methylhexanamine. One of the primary circumstances reported on using this drug concerned Yohan Blake. The sprinter was certainly one of 5 Jamaican athletes who examined constructive for the substance in 2009.
Since then, a whole lot of athletes, together with a number of athletes on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, have examined constructive for the drug as a result of it’s generally present in dietary dietary supplements. Once used as a nasal decongestant, the drug helps athletes to extend their metabolic charge and ease the method of weight reduction.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) classifies the drug as a ‘specified’ substance, which means that if the athlete can show that the use was unintentional, she or he might get away with much less clearance. is.
Malik was among the many eight Indian wrestlers who certified for the Olympics. He did so by reaching the ultimate of the ultimate qualifying event held in Sofia, battling an damage and basically struggling a leg.
Moving ahead within the event, Malik claimed that he was battling a knee damage that he suffered throughout the nationwide camp. Pain, he mentioned, was one of many causes he was not in a position to safe a quota on the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April.
Weeks later, he reached the ultimate of the qualifiers in Bulgaria and booked a quota. However, he accepted the ultimate citing the identical damage. Malik was one of many wrestlers competing within the rating event in Warsaw, Poland, later this month. However, his identify has been dropped from the workforce.
This is the second straight Olympics the place an Indian wrestler has failed a dope check. In 2016, Narsingh Yadav, who had certified within the 74kg class, couldn’t compete on the Rio Games, as he too had examined constructive earlier than the opening ceremony.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
