Vinesh Phogat’s difficulties may increase, NADA issued notice, know what is the reason

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, one of the faces of the wrestling protests in the capital against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has been issued a notice by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failure to ‘locate’. Vinesh will return to competitive wrestling at the Budapest Ranking Series 2023. The event in Hungary will end in four days, on July 16. According to a newspaper, a Dope Control Officer (DCO) visited the Pratap Colony address in Sonipat on June 27 and Vinesh was nowhere to be found and was also not reachable on phone. The DCO spent more than 40 minutes trying to reach her and also called her husband Somveer Rathi but there was no response from him either.

 

NADA project officer Ankush Gupta has asked Vinesh to reply on ‘failure to comply with ADR’s whereabouts requirements’. Athletes who are part of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to use the Anti-Doping Administration Management System (ADAMS) to update their whereabouts every three months. They must include their address, email address, phone number, work schedule, training location and schedule. Vinesh is a part of RTP since December 2022. It is being told that Vinesh has 14 days to respond to this notice. However, Vinesh has nothing to worry about as this is the first time in 12 months that his whereabouts are untraceable.

A Delhi court has summoned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on July 18 in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The court said there was enough evidence to proceed with the case against the accused. The Delhi Police had filed a report in the court on June 15, requesting to quash the case registered against Singh under the POCSO Act. They suspended their agitation after the government had earlier assured the agitating wrestlers, including Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Olympian Vinesh Phogat, that a charge sheet would be filed by June 15.