Six wrestlers, including four from the Commonwealth Games squad, have tested positive for a banned substance. All of them have been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) from September 1.
All the wrestlers have tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a non-specified stimulant, in the samples collected by the NADA during the selection trials held in Sonepat and Patiala in the first week of this month. These athletes will face a sanction of a two-year suspension when the charges are proved.
The wrestlers to have tested positive are Sumit (74kg), Mausam Khatri (96kg), Rajeev Tomar (120kg), Rahul Mann (60kg) and Joginder (120kg) in freestyle and Gursharanpreet Kaur (72kg) in women's freestyle category.
Arjuna in the balance
Three-time National champion and Commonwealth champion Rajeev Tomar, who had taken part in the Beijing Olympics, had recently received the Arjuna Award. He stands to lose the award in case the charge is upheld.
Replacements picked
In an emergency meeting held here on Thursday, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) picked the replacements for the Commonwealth Games squad. They were Narsingh Yadav (74kg), Anil Mann (96kg) and Praveen (120kg) in freestyle and woman wrestler Anshu Tomar (72kg).
The WFI sources said since the deadline for submitting the teams for Commonwealth Games was Friday, it had to announce the replacements hastily. “There was no problem in doing that as we had ranked the wrestlers according to their performances in the selection trials,” said the source.
