Kabaddi player Ajay Thakur suspended over whereabouts violation

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9

In perhaps the first ever such case, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has imposed provisional suspension on an Indian athlete for the violation of its whereabouts rules. Ajay Thakur, the former captain of the Indian kabaddi team, has been provisionally suspended under Article 2.4 of the anti-doping rules for failing to submit his whereabouts in time. Thakur, who led the Indian team at the 2018 Asian Games, where the defending champions won a bronze medal, was served the notice on March 19, 2021.

NADA director general Navin Agarwal said notices were sent to a few athletes in the registered testing pool to explain the failure to file their whereabouts and Thakur was the only one to be served with a suspension notice. "We have been ensuring that all registered testing pool players submit their whereabouts on due date so that they can be tested anytime without prior notice," Agarwal said. "Some of the RTP athletes who failed to do so were given opportunities to explain why they failed to file their whereabouts."

Rakhi Haldar, Manish suspended

Weightlifter Rakhi Haldar was among the five Indian athletes suspended for anti-doping rules violations. Haldar was to be part of the team for the Asian Weightlifting Championships but was dropped after traces of androsterone, testosterone and etiocholanone were found in her samples. Greco-Roman wrestler Manish Kundu and race-walkers Vishvendra Singh and Sumit Vishwakarma are other known faces caught in the dope net.

Greco-Roman wrestlers miss Olympics qualification

Almaty: Much was expected from Sunil Kumar but the country's top Greco-Roman wrestler could not make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics after losing his semifinal at the Asian Qualifiers here today. Only the finalists will earn a place in the Tokyo Games from this event and five Indians lost in the last-four stage to miss the chance on the opening day of the competition. The women's competition will be held on Saturday while the men's free style competition is slated for Sunday. PTI