The long drama that is the Narsingh Yadav and the Olympics is over after the Indian wrestler was handed a four-year suspension. WADA's decision to appeal the ban revoked by NADA has worked after CAS slapped Narsingh with a long suspension which ends the wrestler's dreams of competing in the Rio Olympics.
After convincing the National Anti-Doping Agency that the positive drug test was a result of a conspiracy and foul play, Narsingh looked set to compete in Rio, but the wrestler's hopes were thrown into doubt when WADA confirmed they would be appealing the reprieve.
A meeting was called by the ad-hoc committee of CAS, setup in Rio, late on Thursday (Friday morning in India) and the result of that meeting has been that Narsingh and his camp have not been able to convince the authorities that his positive test was the case of foul play by his "rivals."
"The CAS panel did not accept the accept the argument of the athlete that he was victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional," CAS said in a statement. "Therefore, the standard four-year period of ineligibility was imposed on the by the panel."
Narsingh had hoped to compete in the 74kg category in Rio after winning a court battle with Sushil Kumar, who tried to force the Wrestling Federation of India into setting up a trial. When the doping scandal broke out, his dreams seemed over, only for NADA, with support from WFI, to clear the wrestler after accepting his conspiracy claims.
However, WADA was not convinced and appealed to CAS, with the Court of Arbitration of Sport deciding to ban Narsingh for four years.
"It is so unfortunate," India's chef de mission Rakesh Gupta was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "After getting the clearance from NADA, we had written to the world wrestling body, the International Olympic Committee and also the Organising Committee of the Rio Games.
"They had accepted Narsingh's entry and that is the reason that he travelled with us. He will have to be moved out of the Games Village on Friday morning. Then we will make arrangements to send him home."
As a result of the late ban, India now will not have a wrestler in the 74kg division, taking away another chance at a medal for the country.
