The first track-and-field athlete to qualify for the Rio Olympics 2016, shot putter Inderjeet Singh has just been suspended for his alleged involvement in the latest doping scandal.
Naveen Agarwal, chief of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) which had conducted the tests on Inderjeet’s samples on June 22nd has confirmed to the media that the athlete is now under provisional suspension from the current Indian Olympic team. Unless his ‘B’ sample proves him to be clean within a week, Inderjeet will have to forfeit his Rio ticket and also face a possible ban of four years as per the prevalent norms of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
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Like wrestler Narsingh Yadav, Inderjeet too has pleaded innocent and claimed that it is the consequence of attempts by his adversaries to frame him. While back-to-back doping violations have put the whole nation in shock, NADA chief Mr Agarwal told NDTV that he is not at all surprised at these incidents given how big the Indian contingent for the approaching Olympics is at the moment (more than 100 athletes).
Also Read: Rio Olympics 2016: Final NADA hearing on Narsingh Yadav's doping affair on Wednesday
Inderjeet, having won a gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2015 had already established himself as a contender for the coveted podium finish for India and had also undergone specialized training in the United States for this purpose, earlier this year. He maintains that he had no reason to take the drugs (androsterone and etiocholanolone) which were detected in his samples out of competition and hopes that proper investigation by doctors would help resolve the matter.
For now, both Narsingh and Inderjeet stand to miss out on this year’s Summer Olympics which begin in ten days’ time in Rio de Janeiro.
