Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia banned by NADA for refusing to give urine sample

New Delhi: Bajrang Punia, a wrestler who won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games, has been suspended for four years for refusing to submit a urine sample for anti-doping testing in March 2024 during the national team trials.

Punia was reportedly previously given a provisional suspension, and after a hearing, the ban was upheld in accordance with Article 10.3.1 of the NADA Anti-Doping Rules, which deals with wilfully evading a dope test, which is considered a violation of the anti-doping rules.

Punia had challenged his provisional suspension, which was imposed on April 23, 2024, with NADA’s Anti-Disciplinary Doping Panel (ADDP) and got it revoked in May 2024, pending a formal notice of charge. NADA eventually served a formal notice on June 23, 2024. After written submissions from Punia and hearings held on September 20 and October 4, the ADDP ruled in favour of NADA and ordered the enforcement of a four-year ineligibility period starting April 23, 2024, IANS reported.

With the United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport's world governing body, also suspending Bajrang in April, the Indian wrestler will not only be unable to participate in events but also can't take up coaching roles till the end of the suspension period.

“Needless to say the lifting of the provisional suspension for the period from 31.05.2024 to 21.06.2024 shall not be credited into the total period of ineligibility of four years,” the ADDP clarified.

In the hearing before the ADDP, Punia argued that his refusal to give a sample for testing was not deliberate but driven by mistrust lack of trust in NADA's processes. He also claimed that the sample collector was using an expired kit and cited previous instances in which expired testing kits were allegedly provided. He claimed that his objection was to NADA using the "expired kits" and not for providing a sample.

Punia also claimed that the situation was exacerbated by his dispute with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and his involvement with the protests against its former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

On its part, NADA maintained that the athlete’s actions were deliberate. “The outright refusal by the athlete to provide a urine sample for the dope test was intentional and deliberate” and demonstrated disregard for anti-doping responsibilities outlined in Articles 20.1 and 20.2 of the 2021 rules.

The ADDP accepted NADA's contentions and imposed a four-year ineligibility on Punia, who won a bronze medal in men's freestyle 65kg in the Tokyo Olympics.

Bajrang Punia is one of India's most decorated wrestlers with multiple medals in the World Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Championships, and Commonwealth Championships in a decade-long international career starting with the 2013 Asian Championships in New Delhi, when he came into the limelight.

He has been awarded the Arjuna Award (2015), Khel Ratna, and Padma Shri in 2019.