SPORT-OLY-NARSINGH 2 LAST

Having grabbed the quota by virtue of his World Having grabbed the quota by virtue of his WorldChampionships bronze in Las Vegas last year, Narsingh’s roadto Rio was fraught with obstacles after he was named torepresent India ahead of double Olympic-medallist SushilKumar. Sushil dragged Narsingh to the Delhi High Court and abitter courtroom tussle followed but the judgement went inlatter’s favour. There was more drama in store for the Asian Gamesbronze-medallist after he returned positive for a bannedsteroid following a dope test in June by the NADA. Narsingh’s roommate at the SAI centre in Sonipat alsotested positive for the same substance but WFI backed theMumbai-based wrestler’s claims of a foul-play. Days before the Olympics, Narsingh was cleared of dopingcharges by the NADA who said the wrestler was indeed a victimof ‘sabotage’ and deserved the benefit of doubt. However, his hopes were dealt a massive blow when WADAchallenged the NADA’s decision and moved the CAS amidspeculation that the wrestler may face a ban up to four years. Sandeep Tomar (57kg) is the other Indian wrestler inaction today and has been drawn to face Russia’s ViktorLebedev in the pre-quarterfinal. PTI TAP PM AHPM