Wrestler Sumit fails dope test, to miss Olympics
New Delhi, June 4: Olympic-bound Indian wrestler Sumit Malik has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test during the recent Qualifiers in Bulgaria, a major embarrassment for the country with just weeks left for the Games in Tokyo.
It marks the second consecutive instance of a wrestler being caught in dope net before the Olympics — the previous being ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics when Narsingh Pancham Yadav had failed one and was slapped with a four-year ban.
Malik, the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 125kg category at the World Olympic Qualifier event in Sofia, Bulgaria which was the last chance for wrestlers to earn quotas.
The 28-year-old’s participation at the main event starting July 23 seems uncertain now.
“We got a mail from the UWW (United World Wrestling) on Thursday that Sumit has failed the dope test and he has been suspended provisionally. The substance found in his sample is said to be 5methylhexan-2-amine (1,4dimethylpentylamine),” Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) secretary Vinod Tomar said.
A Delhi-based sports lawyer Parth Goswami contends that since this substance is a specified one, Malik cannot be suspended provisionally.
— Paris, June 4: Olympic 100m hurdles champion Brianna McNeal has been banned for five years for tampering with the antidoping testing process, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced on Friday.
McNeal, 29, can still take part in the US trials for the Tokyo Olympics later this month while she appeals the ban, which is backdated to August 15, 2020, the AIU said in a statement.
Her appeal will be heard before the Olympics begin on July 23.
AIU said she had been banned for “tampering within the results management process”.
It was her second doping violation after she missed the 2017 World Championships while serving a one-year ban for missing three drug tests.
“The system is pretty messed up if you ask me but that's another topic for another day,” she said in an Instagram post. —