India to lose one Tokyo Olympics wrestling quota after Sumit Malik fails dope take a look at

Sumit Malik was one of many athletes unveiling India’s uniform for the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday afternoon. By late night, it turned out the wrestler won’t have the ability to don the blue jersey himself.
On the day The Indian Express reported that one Olympics-bound wrestler had failed a dope take a look at, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) confirmed that it was Malik. The heavyweight wrestler examined constructive for a prohibited substance throughout final month’s Olympic qualifying match in Sofia, Bulgaria.
United World Wrestling (UWW), the game’s governing physique, provisionally suspended the 28-year-old for six months on Thursday. Unless the UWW expedites the listening to course of to complete it earlier than the Games start on July 23, Malik will be unable to compete in Tokyo. Even if the method is full by then, his probabilities to compete look slim. And for the reason that failed take a look at occurred throughout a qualifying match, India will consequently lose the 125kg weight class quota.
WFI secretary VN Prasood stated they have been knowledgeable about Malik’s alleged doping violation on Thursday night time.
“We received communication on Thursday night that Sumit’s sample collected during the Olympic qualifying tournament had returned positive. The UWW has provisionally suspended him and India has also lost its quota in that category. It is unfortunate,” Prasood stated.
The grappler, a product of New Delhi’s Chhatrasal Stadium, had received gold on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and silver on the Asian Championship the yr earlier than.
Malik, who didn’t remark when contacted, examined constructive for a stimulant referred to as methylhexanamine. One of the primary instances reported on using this drug concerned Yohan Blake. The sprinter was one of many 5 Jamaican athletes who examined constructive for the substance in 2009.
Since then, a whole bunch of athletes, together with a number of on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, have examined constructive for the drug because it was generally present in dietary supplements. Once used as a nasal decongestant, the drug helps athletes enhance their metabolic price and make the load discount course of simpler.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has categorized the drug as a ‘specified’ substance, which means that if the athlete can show the use was unintentional, he can get away with a decreased sanction.
Malik was amongst eight Indian wrestlers who had certified for the Olympics. He did so by reaching the ultimate of the final qualifying match held in Sofia, battling an harm and basically grappling on one leg.
Heading into the match, Malik claimed he had been nursing a knee harm that he suffered in the course of the nationwide camp. The ache, he stated, was one of many causes he hadn’t been capable of safe a quota on the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April.
Weeks later, he reached the ultimate of the qualifiers in Bulgaria and booked the quota. However, he conceded the ultimate citing the identical harm. Malik was one of many wrestlers set to compete in a rating match in Warsaw, Poland, later this month. However, his identify has been withdrawn from the squad.
This is the second-straight Olympics the place an Indian wrestler has failed a dope take a look at. In 2016, Narsingh Yadav, who had certified within the 74kg class, couldn’t compete on the Rio Games after he, too, examined constructive weeks earlier than the opening ceremony.