In a shocking turn of events, one of the Indian women boxers, who also won a medal at the Asian Games, faces the risk of being stripped of the medal and the Paris Olympics quota due to whereabouts failures during the competition. While the identity of the boxers is still undisclosed, it could also be Lovlina Borgohain or Nikhat Zareen, out of the four who had won medals at the Asian Games.
Indian Boxer in Doping Net?
As per a report in PTI, an Indian boxer is certainly in the doping net. The pugilist failed to file her whereabouts in the period before the continental multi-sport event. If found guilty, she could face a maximum two-year ban which can be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of her fault besides losing her Asian Games medal and Paris Olympic quota. The ITA was roped in by the Olympic Council of Asia to help in administering the anti-doping programme at the Hangzhou Asian Games, including the Results Management process.
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The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) is, however, optimistic of a favourable resolution of the matter. “The notice was for the period before the Asian Games and the federation got to know about it only after the Games. The boxer was in a disturbed state of mind during that time as one of her parents had been diagnosed with a serious medical condition,” a BFI official privy to the development told PTI.
“The BFI legal team has been intimated, it is looking into the matter. There should not be an issue (like taking away the medal or Olympic quota) as we will explain the reason for the failure,” the official added.
What Do the Rules Say
Athletes who part of the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to submit quarterly whereabouts updates. According to WADA rules, “any combination of three whereabouts failures (filing failure and/or missed test) within a period of 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation, for which the applicable sanction is 2 years’ ineligibility subject to a reduction to a minimum of 1 year depending on your degree of fault.” The Indian boxing contingent returned with four Olympic quotas — all in the women’s categories — and five medals, including a silver won by world champion Lovlina Borgohain from the Asian Games.
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India at Asian Games Boxing
India had a surprisingly poor boxing campaign at the Asian Games, where none of our boxers went on to win the gold medal. Lovlina Borgohain won a silver medal, while Nikhat Zareen settled for bronze, despite being a two-time World Champion. The other two medalists were Parveen Hooda and Preeti Pawar. Again, the identity of the boxer is still not, known and could be one of the four.
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