Narsingh Pancham Yadav
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Career
Dhananjay Roy, Mumbai, Jul 23 2016 : The Times of India
Gravitating towards wrestling was an easy choice for Narsingh, now 26. His father was a wrestler in their village Neema in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district. The family later moved to Mumbai, seeking a change in financial fortunes.
“My father was keen that we have wrestlers in our family . I grew up watching him and picked up the basics from him. It felt really nice when I wrestled in school and was called in front of the class and children clapped for me. Of course I lost at times, but I mostly won. The fact that my father owned a dairy ensured that I got the required diet,“ recalled Narsingh.
Ever since he was cajoled into joining Sports Authority of India's (SAI) centre in Kandivali by coach Jagmal Singh 10 years ago in the 50kg category , Narsingh's progress has been steady . “He is a great talent spotter. He saw me as a youngster at the akhara in Jogeshwari and asked me to train under him at SAI.He promised to make me a good wrestler. I liked staying at home and was not keen on joining the hostel, but he convinced me to do it. He has been the pillar of my progress,“ Narsingh said of Jagmal.
Narsingh could not qualify for the Beijing Olympics because he was nursing a torn ligament at that time. Two years later, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, he got injured once again but recovered just in time for the trials. Lady luck intervened to ensure he contested the CWG and ended up winning gold! “I felt I was the best wrestler at the trials in the 74kg category , but ended up losing the final. I was devastated. But as destiny would have it, my opponent tested positive for some illegal substance and I was given an opportunity to fight. After that I won a lot of accolades. People began respecting me. It helped me forge an identity . It felt really nice.“
A couple of years later, Narsingh qualified for the London Olympics but did little of note there. He was crestfallen but the two medals India won in wrestling Sushil Kumar (silver) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze) fired his dream once again.
2015
World Wrestling Championship
The Times of India, Sep 14 2015
Narsingh Pancham Yadav secured an Olympic quota place for India after bagging a bronze medal in the Men's 74kg Freestyle category , giving the country a reason to cheer at the World Wrestling Championship here. With his thirdplace finish, Narsingh became the lone Indian to win a medal at the prestigious tournament as well as book a berth for the 2016 Rio Games. Top six in each category qualifies for the Olympics. This is the first time that an Indian wrestler has earned an Olympic berth with a medal at the World Championship.
Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar's absence from the mat for over an year now has made Narsingh a regular in the 74kg division.
It will now be interesting to see who between the veteran Sushil or 26-year-old Narsingh ultimately board the flight to Rio next year to represent India in this category.
As per rules, an Olympic berth is for the country concerned and not the wrestler who might have clinched it. Narsingh came up with some dominating performances, defeating Hanoc Rachamin of Israel 14-2 before getting the better of Soner Demirtas of Turkey 4-3 and Cuba's Livan Lopez Azcuy 16-5 to advance to the semifinal. But in his semifinal bout, Narsingh went down to Unurbat Purevjav of Mongolia.
However, in his bronze medal play-off, he got his act together to outplay Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France 12-8 to make it to the podium. Arun, meanwhile, did well to beat Tat Du Can of Vietnam 7-0 and Semen Radulov of Ukraine 5-4 to advance to the quarterfinal round. But he lost to local wrestler James Malcolm Green 0-10 in the last-eight stage.
2016
Narsingh, who won the 74kg Olympic quota berth with a World Championships bronze medal last year, was selected for Rio in controversial circumstances after double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar's demands for a trial were rejected both by the WFI and the Delhi high court.
He was the man representing India in wrestling's 74kg freestyle category at the Rio Olympics, and not the legendary Sushil Kumar, who chose, unsuccessfully, to move court in a last-ditch effort to force a trial in early May 2016.
In those difficult times, Narsingh never pushed his own case, always believing that he was doing enough on the mat to let people judge for themselves. As things stand, fortune favoured him.
The controversy and court fights surrounding the selection between Narsingh and Sushil erupted. Police security was given to Narsingh and he was also under tremendous mental pressure.
Doping: NADA accepts Narsingh was framed by rival
Narsingh gave blood samples for testing on July 5 2016, before he left for Spain to take part in an invitation tournament — a warm-up event for the wrestlers ahead of the August 2016 Olympics. The report of his 'A' sample test came out positive. Later, he was called for his 'B' sample test, which also returned positive for methandienone - a banned anabolic steroid
"I believe that there is foul play involved in this entire episode. Someone has sabotaged my food supplements and water intake... I have undergone three tests in the last month and a half. I appeared for a dope test on the 2nd of June before leaving for a training camp in Bulgaria. I was again tested on my return on the 25th of June and once again on the 5th of July," Narsingh responded
Biswajyoti Brahma, Aug 02 2016 : The Times of India (Delhi) Narsingh was victim of sabotage by rival: Nada
In a dramatic turn of events, wrestler Narsingh Yadav was, five days before the Olympics were to begin, cleared of any wrongdoing by a National Anti-Doping Agency panel, paving his way for partici pation in the Rio Olympics.Yadav, whose samples taken on June 25 and July 5 2016 had tested positive for a banned steroid, convinced the panel that he was a victim of “sabotage“.
“There is no fault or negli gence on his part and he is a victim of sabotage by a competitor.... The panel exonerates the athlete from charges of violating anti-doping rules,“ Nada chief Navin Agarwal announced to a huge cheer from Narsingh's supporters. The NADA panel members are law yers, former sportspersons and medicine experts.
Since the samples collected on different days contained the same banned substance and as Narsingh was not notified about his first sample testing positive before the second sample was taken, as per the WADA rules, the two positive tests were considered as one infringement.
While Narsingh did not contest the anti-doping violation, he maintained that he was a victim of a sabotage. Under World Anti-Doping Agency rule 10.4, to escape the ban, Narsingh had to establish how the substance entered his body and show that it was not intended to enhance his performance. He also had to prove that the timing of ingestion would not have benefitted him. Further he also had to ensure that he was not at fault for the doping offence.
The wrestler's lawyer said Narsingh will undergo a “reinstatement test before leaving for Olympics“, a requirement for any athlete who has had an adverse analytical finding. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), which had named Parveen Rana as a replacement in a bid to retain the 74kg berth, said it will be writing to the world wrestling body as well as the Olympic organisers to give the berth back to Narsingh.
Jitesh Kumar, the junior wrestler accused of spiking Narsingh's food with banned substances, moved a local court in Sonepat for anticipatory bail, just hours before the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) cleared Narsingh for the Rio Olympics. The application was moved by his father Surender Singh.
Narsingh had approached the Haryana police with a complaint against the 17-year-old Delhi wrestler last week after which a case was registered at the Rai police station under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison with an intent to commit an offence) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, to Narsingh’s dismay, the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) challenged the Indian NADA's decision and moved the CAS amid speculation that the wrestler may face a ban up to four years.
In August 2016 Narsingh was ousted from the Olympics and slapped with a four year ban+ for flunking a dope test after the ad hoc division of Court of Arbitration for Sports overturned the clean chit given to him by the National Anti-Doping Agency.
‘Narsingh intentionally took substance in tablet form:’ CAS
NEW DELHI: While handing down a four-year ban on Narsingh Yadav+ , the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that the wrestler failed to produce any "real evidence" regarding the sabotage theory+ he had advanced and the balance of probabilities" was that he orally took the banned substance intentionally in tablet form on more than one occasion.
In its full award, the ad hoc panel of the CAS relied on expert evidence that Narsingh's dope offence was not due to one-time ingestion of the prohibited substance and its concentration in the first test result (of June 25) was so high that it had to come from an oral ingestion of one or two tablets of methandienone, rather than from a drink where the powder had been mixed with water.
The expert opinion was given by Professor Christiane Ayotte from Canada who was presented by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Professor Ayotte is a member of IAAF Doping Commission since 1995 and was elected representative of the Heads of IOC Accredited Laboratories in 1995-1996. She is currently the Director of the WADA-accredited laboratory in Montreal.
Narsingh's urine sample taken out-of competition on June 25 was found to contain metabolites of methandienone and long term metabolite of methandienone. Another sample taken out-of competition on July 5 was also found to contain long term metabolites of methandienone.
"...all in all found the sabotage (s) theory possible, but not probable and certainly not grounded in any real evidence. The panel therefore determined that the athlete had failed to satisfy his burden of proof and the panel was satisfied that the most likely explanation was that the athlete simply and intentionally ingested the prohibited substance in tablet form on more than one occasion," the CAS panel said.
The CAS had handed Narsingh a four-year ban in its 'operative award' on August 18 barely hours before his 74kg freestyle opening bout was scheduled.
