NADA serves whereabouts failure notice to retired wrestler Vinesh Phogat

PTI, Sep 26, 2024, 8:57 AM IST

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on Wednesday served a notice to wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat for whereabouts failure and sought an explanation within 14 days.

Vinesh had announced her retirement after her disqualification from the Paris Olympics in August, saying she doesn’t have the strength to continue. The 29-year-old, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout, had announced her decision via social media.

All the athletes registered with NADA’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP), of which Vinesh is a part, are required to provide details about their availability for dope tests.

If they fill the details and are found not available on that location at that given time, it is considered a whereabouts failure.

The NADA, in its notice, conveyed to the wrestler-turned-politician that she had apparently committed a whereabouts failure as she was not available for a dope test on September 9 at her house in Kharkhoda village in Sonepat.

Vinesh had announced her retirement from the sport after her Paris Olympics campaign ended in heartbreak, where she made the final but was disqualified ahead of her gold-medal bout for being overweight.

Vinesh and fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia joined the Congress party recently and she is contesting the upcoming Haryana Assembly election from Julana constituency.

She has been busy campaigning in the Julana constituency these days.

“You are hereby given a formal notice to notify you about apparent failure to comply with the whereabouts requirements of the ADR, and to invite you to make any comments before we come to a final decision on the matter,” the NADA notice read.

“A Dope Control Officer (DCO) was sent to test you on that dav at that time and place. However, he was unable to locate you for testing as you were not available at the given location.” Vinesh needs to either accept the failure or provide evidence that she was present in that location for about 60 minutes.

It may be mentioned that one whereabouts failure does not constitute an anti-doping rule violation. There must be three whereabouts failures (whether filing failures or missed tests) within a 12-month period for NADA to charge an athlete.