India could lose Paris quota

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, October 21

India could lose a medal from the 107 won at the Asian Games and also a quota place at the next year’s Paris Olympics.

An unnamed Indian boxer, who won a medal at the Hangzhou Games, has been served with a notice from the International Testing Agency (ITA) for multiple whereabouts failure.

The boxer is in the process of filing a reply and it has been learnt that there’s a good chance of getting a favourable solution to the matter. Athletes who are part of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) have to use the Anti-Doping Administration Management System (ADAMS) to update their whereabouts information every three months. As per the World Athletics Anti-Doping (WADA) rules, any combination of three failures of either failing to file whereabouts details or missed tests within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation. If found guilty, an athlete could get a maximum sanction of two years of ineligibility or a reduced sanction of one year depending upon the degree of fault.

It is understood that the boxer failed to file whereabouts and the period was before the start of the Asian Games. However, sources in the Boxing Federation of India have confirmed to The Tribune that the federation was only notified after the end of the Games.

Interestingly, this is the third such incident. Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Pooja Dhanda were also issued notices for failing to provide her sample.