It’s been a turbulent year for India’s Olympic-bound wrestler Narsingh Yadav. After the legal fight with two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar for a berth in the 74-kg freestyle category in the Rio Olympics, he was tested positive in a dope test conducted by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).
However, in a sensational turnaround, Narsingh was exonerated of doping charges by NADA, which concluded that he was a victim of sabotage, boosting his chances of making it to the Olympics.
On Wednesday, he finally got the go ahead of United World Wrestling (UWW) to compete in the world’s biggest sporting event.
The UWW, on Friday, officially confirmed through a tweet that the beleaguered wrestler will represent India in 74-kg freestyle wrestling at Rio.
However, UWW’s decision doesn’t seem to go down well with Russia.
According to an India Today report, two members of the Russian contingent, upset with the decision, said that they were surprised how Narsingh Yadav could be given clean chit by the international governing body and how India could field a dope offender.
They alleged that banning the Russian track team, while allowing Narsingh to compete in Rio, was a sheer act of discrimination based on skin colour.
They further asserted that giving backdoor entry to Narsingh, a dope offender, while banning Russian wrestlers based on past offences committed years earlier was unfair.
Meanwhile, Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian delegation, claimed that that Russia is the most dope tested team in the Olympics and all of its 271 athletes are the cleanest.
Earlier, as many as 118 athletes from the Russian contingent were barred from competing in the Rio Olympics because of alleged involvement in a state-sponsored doping scandal.
