Four-year ban on Inderjeet Singh for dope violation

Asian Games 2014 Bronze medallist, Inderjeet Singh is banned for four years by the National Anti Doping Agency as he failed a dope test just ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. He tested positive for banned steroids just prior to the big event.

The panel informed that NADA and NDTL did not follow the usual WADA norms while collecting the sample as stated by Inderjeet Singh. But they also added that the shot putter failed to prove that he didn’t violate the anti doping norms. He was provisionally suspended on July 26, 2016 after his urine samples showed adverse analytical findings for banned performance enhancing substances, androsterone and etiocholanolone.

The three member panel observed: “Article 2.1 states ‘It is the athlete’s responsibility that no prohibited substance enters his body. The fact that the athlete has earlier tested negative for banned substances is not a valid consideration for evaluating any AAF in current list. His intent, negligence or otherwise is secondary as it is for the athletes to disprove the findings in an AAF.”

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“We uphold the violation of article 2.1, resulting in ineligibility of the athlete for a period of four years, commencing from the date of his provisional suspension,” the panel said.

The former Asian champion will serve the ban till 24th July, 2020. As a result he will be out of the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers. The mess created by NADA and NDTL doesn’t nullify the violation done by Inderjeet, thus the provisional ban imposed on the player will be upheld.

“The issue remains whether the deviations had vitiated the entire testing procedure and should culminate into annulling the test results. We are not in agreement with this proposition. Despite their best efforts, the athlete’s experts have not been able to prove that these evident departures from International Standards have actually resulted in AAF,” the panel said.