CWG 2018: Wish I was at Gold Coast, rues Narsingh Yadav

Narsingh Yadav

While his compatriots were making India proud by winning medals at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia, dope-tainted wrestler Narsingh Yadav was helplessly sitting at home here in Mumbai and watching all the action on TV, feeling sad that it could so easily have been him on top of one of those podiums Down Under.

Narsingh, who won an automatic qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics by winning bronze in the 74 kg freestyle event at the 2015 World Championship in Las Vegas, has been serving a four-year dope ban since 2016. The National Anti-Doping Agency first banned him for failing a dope test just before the Rio Games but later exonerated him after he claimed it was a case of sabotage and that his food/drink was spiked. But later, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the grappler was banned.

"I felt very sad as I could not be there in Gold Coast to represent our country. I have been following all the action on TV. I feel bad missing this one," Yadav told mid-day on the sidelines of the fourth Khashaba Jadhav state level wrestling tournament at the regional sports complex in Shimpoli, Borivli, recently. The Indian wrestlers returned from Gold Coast with five gold, three silver and four bronze medals, and Yadav was impressed. "I was delighted to see Maharashtra's Rahul Aware win gold [57kg]," said Yadav, whose sabotage claims are being investigated by the CBI.

"I've already completed two years of the ban. A sportsman's career is short. I urge the CBI to complete their investigation soon and bring the truth out. This will help me try and qualify for the upcoming Asian Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics," added Yadav, 28.

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