If Narsingh Yadav’s case was less curious, the failure of shot putter Inderjeet Singh in the doping test has only further deterred India’s Olympics medal dream.
While in Singh’s case he has only been tested positive for Sample A and sample B test still awaits and any decision will be final after both the test results are out.
But with Olympics in about a months time it cannot be more demoralizing for the Country’s contingent as two of its medal hopes are surrounded in doping controversy.
Singh’s case
He is accused of using androsterone and etiocholanolone, two anabolic steroids which are known to help athletes involved with sports that require muscle power. There are reports in media which mention that he has been acting weird over the past few months and refrained from sharing his locations to the doping agency NADA which is mandatory. However Singh has come out in front and has refuted such allegations and has in fact stated that he has been tested for over ten times in the past year and all this could well be a conspiracy against him for speaking for the Indian athletes and media is in fact part of the scheme.
He has expressed full confidence that there is a conspiracy at stake and his sample has been tampered with and it will be confirmed by subsequent tests and he will come out clean.
Inderjeet much like Narsingh Yadav has had an exceptional career till date he was in fact part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, an initiative of the central government to identify and support potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Through the funding the Punjab-born shot-putter got to train in the United States, under his coaches Pritam Singh and former champion Shakti Singh.
Singh had won the Olympic berth a year ago at the 19th Federation Cup held at Mangalore’s Mangala Stadium with a personal best throw of 20.65m.
Future
With the sample B still left, Singh still has a lifeline. However if he fails in the second sample, he will have to sit out of the Olympics that begin August 5 and may be banned for four years under new World Anti-Doping Agency code.
Both Singh’s and Yadav’s issue are highly driven by emotions as they represent India’s medals hope, it is for this reason that there is so much media and public attention surrounding it. And every Indian is hopeful that they both come out clean and be motivated to perform well at the Olympics, it may be a tall ask but that has never stopped us for aiming for the impossible.