WADA appeals against Narsingh’s clean chit to add to woes

By Tapan Mohanta Rio de Janeiro, Aug 16 (PTI) India’s floundering campaignin the Rio Olympics here took a turn for the worse when theWorld Anti-Doping Agency lodged an appeal with the Court ofArbitration for Sports against the clean chit given towrestler Narsingh Yadav by NADA in the dope scandal back home. "WADA has appealed against the NADA (National Anti-DopingAgency) clearance in Court of Arbitration (CAS). Now thehearing is on and the IOA Secretary General (Rajeev Mehta) isthere with WADA officials," Indian contingent’schef-de-mission Rakesh Gupta told PTI. If CAS upholds WADA’s appeal Narsingh, who is scheduledto fight in the 74kg freestyle category on August 19, will notonly be able to take part in the Games here but could alsoface a career-threatening four-year ban. Enduring a disastrous campaign thus far, the medal-lessIndian contingent was pinning its hopes mainly on shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, besides its wrestlers -including world championship bronze medal winner Narsingh – toend the drought before the disheartening development. Ten days of action have failed to bring India, that won arecord six medals in London four years ago, a single podiumfinish and there’s growing desperation to end this poor run. India’s campaign now has been reduced to threedisciplines – track and field, badminton and wrestling – afterthe flop show put up by the contingent in other sports. Its woes continued on day 11 today when Hardeep Singhlost 1-2 in his opening encounter against Turkey’s Ildem Cenkin the Greco-Roman 98 Kg class. And adding to the miserable run was the news that some ofits contingent members were served only "peanuts" at a dinnerparty organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sportshere on Independence Day, after having skipped dinner at theGames Village. Now Sindhu is the person the country will look upto latertoday to provide the spark as she faces a formidable opponentin world no. 2 and London Games silver medallist, Wang Yihan,for a place in the semifinals and a step closer to the podium. The lanky shuttler from Hyderabad and Srikanth, whomade it to the men’s singles quarters, are the only two medalcontenders left in the competition after the shock eliminationof last Games bronze medallist and former world no. 1 SainaNehwal two days ago. More PTI TAP SSR AHCM