After Narsingh’s case, WADA again drags NADA to CAS

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 18

After successfully challenging wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s “let-off” decision before the Rio Olympics, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has again dragged the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA has challenged NADA’s appeals panel’s verdict — upholding 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist weightlifter Geeta Rani’s two-year suspension for a doping violation — on the ground of “lenient punishment”.

According to WADA, Geeta should have been banned for four years by NADA for her first-time doping offence.

Geeta, a three-time silver medallist at the Asian Championships, had tested positive for an anabolic steroid at the 2015 National Games in Kerala and at the All-India Police Championships in Delhi a month later. But NADA had treated her twin dope failures as a single dope offence, which still attracted a four-year ban. She had been provisionally suspended by the Indian Weighlifting Federation (IWF) on April 13, 2015, pending NADA disciplinary panel’s verdict.

However, arguments in her case lingered on and it was on April 13, 2016 that the 36-year-old Arjuna Award winner was handed a two-year ban, the period of ineligibility starting from the date of her provisional suspension.

Geeta immediately appealed against the disciplinary panel’s verdict to NADA’s appeals panel, claiming sabotage by her rivals. The appeals panel, in its order dated July 6 this year, upheld her two-year suspension. Since Geeta was provisionally suspended on April 13, 2015 and had served her ineligibility period by the time the appeals panel announced its decision, she was allowed by NADA to resume her weightlifting career.  

This ruling miffed WADA and it sought the details of the final ruling in Geeta’s case. WADA has moved the top court in sports to further implement the pending two-year ineligibility period on Geeta. 

“WADA has approached CAS. NADA would be presenting the facts in the case. If CAS instructs us to impose a four-year ban, we will most certainly do it,” a NADA insider said.

If CAS rules in WADA’s favour, this would reflect poorly on NADA panel’s wisdom while awarding punishments. NADA had already been embarrassed worldwide for its poor handling of Narsingh Yadav’s case.