New Delhi: Narsingh Yadav was on Monday (August 1), cleared by the National Anti Doping Agency's (NADA) disciplinary panel of any wrongdoing in the ingestion of a prohibited substance.
NADA's Director-General Navin Agarwal said that the disciplinary panel accepted that Narsingh's amino drink had been sabotaged by a competitor and gave the wrestler a clean chit. The verdict paves the way for Narsingh to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the 74 kg category that he had qualified for by clinching a Bronze medal at the 2015 World Wrestling Championship.
A visibly relieved Narsingh said that the verdict proved his innocence and that he would now do everything within his power to return from Rio with a medal. "Right from the first day, I have had faith that I would be cleared. I have always competed in a fair and honest manner. Competing for India is a matter of massive pride and encouragement for me and I will never engage in anything that brings disrepute to my nation and my sport," he said.
"While the last 10 days have been extremely tough for me, my focus is now firmly on being at my best and going all out to bring glory to the nation. All through the hearing process, I have been training and I will be putting in a lot more work in the next couple of weeks to ensure that I am physically and mentally at my peak on the mat at Rio," he said.
Support has poured in from all quarters for the decorated grappler and Narsingh said that he was humbled and extremely grateful for the backing that he received. "I bow down and thank everyone from the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, the Sports Authority of India and the Wrestling Federation of India for their support and assistance. I would also like to specially thank my backers JSW Sports for their unstinting support. I would like to thank my lawyers, Vidushpat Singhania and his team, the media and every citizen who lent me their trust. I am deeply touched by all the messages of encouragement that I have received and I will now look to repay them all by putting in a strong show at the Rio Olympics," he said.
Mustafa Ghouse, CEO JSW Sports, said that the Company fully believed in Narsingh's innocence and that there was no doubt on backing him all the way. "We were confident of Narsingh coming out clean. We have enough faith in the system and the NADA panel has given us a fair hearing. Our legal team did a fantastic job and we have ensured that a deserving athlete gets his due. While the last ten days have been very challenging, JSW Sports did all it could to ensure that Narsingh's training schedule was not hampered. There are still a couple of weeks left before he takes the mat and we will be doing everything possible to ensure that he is at his sharpest best," he said.
