CHENNAI: As the world of wrestling in India is being shredded, a former world and Asian championships medallist has been suspended for one year for three whereabouts failures in a year. Wrestler Pooja Dhanda, who won world championships bronze in 2018, was found guilty of missing dope collections and filing failures and has been banned from 15.06.2023 (“light degree” offence).
According to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, three filing failures and missed tests were recorded in the period of 12 months in 2022. Since she was part of the Registered Testing Pool of the NADA she should be available for testing during the identified 60-minute window each day. The NADA had informed her that she also needs to file her quarterly whereabouts. Sports lawyer Vidushpat Singhania and Achyuth Jayagopal were her counsels and were part of the hearing. The Quorum was Charu Pragya (chairperson) Manik S Ghadlinge and Abantika Deka.
However, ADDP explained that the athlete did not file her whereabouts in quarter 3 (Q3) and the NADA had issued her a filing failure letter on July 6, 2022 seeking an explanation for filing failures within 14 days.Since the NADA did not receive any intimation until November 26, it declared this as a filing failure.
The next whereabouts violation was in the fourth quarter (Q4: October-December) when ADDP found it to be a filing failure and issued notice to the wrestler. Pooja, however, defended saying that she had already filed the whereabouts in the month of October prior to receiving the notice. She said, “it is further added that when the Athlete attempted to update her whereabouts information for Q-4, an error on the ADAMS application precluded her from doing so. The Athlete had raised this issue with NADA via an email dated 28.11.2022 that her whereabouts information was not recorded in the WADA ADAMS application.” The NADA, however, considered it a failure because she did not file her whereabouts information on time (delayed filing).
The third was a missed test violation in Q4 (December 21, 2022). According to ADDP, she was not available for dope collection when the Dope Control Officer reached her at her place in Hisar. The wrestler argued that the missed test was due to her travel plan to Visakhapatnam for nationals. Singhania, who was Pooja’s counsel at the hearing, said they asked for leniency because there have been issues while updating her whereabouts in the ADAMS.
The NADA panel said they are of the view that there was a failure under Article 2.4 of Anti-Doping Rules 2021 whereby the athlete has failed to summit her first whereabouts info for Q3 and belatedly submitted her second whereabouts for Q4. She also missed a test in Q4.
“The panel holds that the Athlete is liable for sanction under Article 10.3.2, the panel considered that the athlete negligently failed to comply with the filing requirements and her case falls within the light degree of fault and the period of Ineligibility shall be one (1) year,” said the ADDP order.
“Athlete was trying to fill in the whereabouts form and also tried to intimate the NADA when she could not,” said Singhania. “The NADA panel also has accepted that it was a light degree offence and has given a suspension of one year from 15.06.2023. As of now, six months have already elapsed and she is eligible to make a comeback in another six month’s time. We are not going to appeal against the order.”
