Dope-tainted wrestlers unlikely to be reinstated

The four dope-tainted wrestlers who were earlier named in the Commonwealth Games squad only to be replaced later will not be taken back even after the provisional suspension on them was lifted by NADA Disciplinary Panel, Wrestling Federation of India said on Monday.

WFI president G S Mander said that four of the six wrestlers who had tested positive for methylhexaneamine -- Rajiv Tomar, Sumit, Mausam Khatri and Gursharanpreet Kaur -- will not be able to take part in the Commonwealth Games despite the lifting of the provisional suspension on them.

The WFI had already announced replacements for the four wrestlers immediately after the dope results came out early this month.

"There is no question of including them back in the Commonwealth Games squad. It was a unanimous decision of the selection committee. How can we include them in the squad when some substance was found in their samples?" Mander asked.

"The wrestlers who have replaced them are also very good and they have been training hard at Sonepat. Over and above that the wrestlers who were found positive are out of practice and suddenly we cannot include them. It is not legally and practically possible," he said.

"If we include them now, it would be unfair to those wrestlers who were picked in their place," he added.

Asked about the federations stand, Tomar said, "When the provisional suspension is lifted and NADA said that we can be in the team, how can the federation refuse.

"If we get a clean cheat from the NADA Disciplinary Panel (which is hearing the case on October 21), who will pay for the damage done to us. At the end of the day, it will be our loss," he said.

Tomar, who was conferred the Arjuna Award in August, said he would meet the federation officials tomorrow and is still hopeful of taking part in the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, Swimming Federation of India said it will call a meeting of its selection committee in the next two days to decide on whether the two dope-tainted swimmers Richa Misra and Jyotsana Pansare should be taken back in the Games squad.

"We have already named the replacements of Richa and Jyotsana. But with the new development we are convening a meeting of the selection committee tomorrow or in the next two days. It will decided whether to take back the two swimmers," SFI secretary Virendra Nanavati said.

Nanavati, however, said it will be a complicated job to take the two swimmers back to the Commonwealth Games squad and the selection committee will have to take note of it also.

"It will be a difficult job. Even if the two swimmers are taken back we have to take permission from the Commonwealth Games Federation for their inclusion. We have to take account of this thing also," he said.