In a significant setback for Indian boxing, the country must now requalify for the women's 57kg category at the Olympics after being forced to surrender the quota due to Parveen Hooda's international suspension.
Hooda, who had secured the Olympic quota with a bronze medal at the Asian Games last year, has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for 22 months due to three whereabouts failures within 12 months.
The 2022 World Championship bronze medallist failed to file her whereabouts from April 2022 to March 2023, a requirement under WADA rules. "Parveen Hooda has been suspended for 22 months by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for Whereabouts Failures," stated the Boxing Federation of India in a media release.
Following discussions with relevant agencies, Hooda’s sanction has been backdated, resulting in a 14-month suspension starting from Friday. "Pursuant to multiple discussions and representations, the ITA has proposed a sanction on Parveen, entailing the imposition of an ineligibility period of 22 months, which has been now backdated by eight months as compared to the initial suspension period of 24 months backdated by six months. In essence, the sanction is of 14 months, starting from May 17, 2024."
This means Hooda will be unable to compete at the Paris Games in July-August this year. In boxing, Olympic quotas are awarded to the athlete, not the country. Currently, India has three other boxers qualified for the Olympics: Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti (54kg), and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg).
With the final Olympic qualifier set to begin on May 24 in Bangkok, India will have another opportunity to qualify for the women's 57kg weight category. However, the country can only field reserves who were registered by April 11. "...which means that only two boxers, named as reserves in the 60kg and 66kg categories, are eligible to compete in Bangkok," the BFI stated.
Athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide detailed information about their overnight location, the name and address of their training and work locations, as well as the usual time-frames of each activity. They must also specify a 60-minute window and location each day for testing.
Failure to comply with whereabouts and testing obligations results in a whereabouts failure. According to WADA rules, "any combination of three whereabouts failures (filing failure and/or missed test) within a period of 12 months constitutes an anti-doping rule violation, for which the applicable sanction is 2 years' ineligibility subject to a reduction to a minimum of 1 year depending on your degree of fault."
In October last year, it was revealed that Hooda had committed multiple whereabouts failures within a one-year period and had received a notice from ITA, which oversees the anti-doping program for boxing at the Olympics.
"While it's regrettable that Parveen won't be able to compete for India and will be serving the suspension, I am happy that we were able to at least reduce the suspension period and she will be back in the ring soon," BFI President Ajay Singh said. "I also extend my gratitude to all who contributed to securing India's continued representation in this weight category for the Paris Olympics," he added.