Shot putter Inderjeet Singh may appeal against the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) order which has overturned the decision of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) appeal panel to re-impose a four-year suspension on the former Asian champion for doping violations. The CAS order has not been made public.
A source close to Inderjeet said the Asian Games bronze medallist might challenge the order. “It came two days ago and is a long one. We have to study it and consider appealing within 21 days. The CAS has already put the costs on us and international arbitrations are expensive affairs,” said the source on Wednesday.
Following a long-drawn procedure lasting around one-and-a-half years, a NADA disciplinary panel in July 2018 had pronounced a four-year suspension on Inderjeet, who tested positive twice — on June 22, 2016 and June 29, 2016 out-of-competition and in-competition tests respectively — for banned steroids.
Exonerated, but...
The NADA appeal panel, on December 14 last, had exonerated Inderjeet on grounds of deviations in international standards including the chain of custody.
The appeal panel noted the fact that in case of the sample collected at Bhiwani on June 22, 2016, there was a gap of several hours between the collection time and submission time. It was stated that the sample was stored overnight at the residence of the dope control officer.
The panel underlined that there was a difference in the amount of sample collected by the dope control officer at Hyderabad on June 29, 2016 and the one that was received and recorded by the laboratory. Besides, NADA did not do a proper initial review of the samples as mandated by the rules.
World Anti-Doping Agency moved CAS against the appeal panel order. CAS sole arbitrator Markus Manninen did not agree with the appeal panel decision and overturned it.
Following the CAS decision, 31-year-old Inderjeet, who was provisionally suspended on July 25, 2016, and continued to be ineligible after the NADA disciplinary panel order until he was exonerated by the appeal panel on December 14, 2018, would now serve the remainder of the four-year suspension.
