Doping row: NADA verdict on wrestler Narsingh Yadav deferred to Monday

The fortnight-long doping saga of the Rio Olympicsbound wrestler Narsingh Yadav headed towards a final decision on Saturday after a marathon hearing by the National Antidoping Agency (NADA) at its office here.

However, the national antidoping body will announce its decision only by Monday afternoon as there were a number of documents that will have to be gone through, NADA director general, Navin Agarwal, told the media.

It was a long day for everyone following the developments.

Narsingh, accompanied by his lawyer, Vidushpat Singhania, and Ramadhar Yadav, who is representing the sports management company JSW, which is supporting his training along with the government, arrived at the NADA office around 5.30 pm. They were closeted with the antidoping panel for around four hours.

The wrestler looked grim as he walked out around 9.30 pm, but broke into a smile on seeing the waiting media. “I’m going to come back again later,” he said before leaving.

The NADA officials were initially expected to pronounce their verdict on Saturday night. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had also scheduled a late night media conference, once the NADA gave its verdict.

The federation’s assistant secretary, Vinod Tomar, was with the NADA panel since noon, although Narsingh and others came much later. The NADA lawyer was not present, but Navin Agarwal was in his office into the night. The news of Narsingh returning a positive test, for an out-of-competition sample collected on June 25, became public on July 16.

Narsingh Yadav: