Indian para shuttler Pramod Bhagat claimed that he was confident about defending his gold medal at the upcoming Paris Paralympics 2024, but a "hard decision" of handing him an 18-month ban by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) took away the opportunity from him.
On August 13, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) released a statement to confirm that the CAS handed Bhagat an 18-month ban for whereabouts failures.
Bhagat will remain suspended from all badminton-related activities until September 1, 2025. As a result, he won't have the opportunity to defend his title and will miss the marquee event in Paris.
"I didn't expect that the decision would go against me," Bhagat told ANI.
Bhagat was the gold medal winner in the SL-3 category at the Tokyo Olympics. He was the first Indian to claim a gold medal in badminton at Paralympics.
Earlier this year, Bhagat was a gold medal winner at the World Para-Badminton Championships. His iconic win took him level with Chinese badminton great Lin Dan's record of five world titles.
While reflecting on his chances of defending his gold in the upcoming edition, on the back of his incredible form, Bhagat claimed that he was going to defend his title.
"I was defending my Tokyo Olympic gold medal. Since January 2023, I have won a lot of titles. My performance was really good, and I was sure that I would defend my medal. But the decision was heart breaking for me. My four years of training became worthless. I am 36, and this medal was really important to me," Bhagat added.
Earlier on March 1, the CAS Anti-Doping Division found the SL-3 class men's singles shuttler guilty of breaching the BWF anti-doping regulation. This was the third instance that the Indian para shuttler was found guilty of breaching the regulation in 12 months.
Following his suspension, Bhagat took to X and stated that the third failure was due to a technical glitch. He reaffirmed his stance and said that athletes get demoralised when a technical issue is imposed on them.
"I didn't think that due to a technical issue, the decision would go against me. The last test was not my mistake. When I submitted it in January, it was successful. After submission, there was no issue as well. It was not my mistake. It was a technical fault. If you put this issue on an athlete, then it demoralises that athlete. The legal team is working on it, but changing the decision is very difficult because there is not much time left," Bhagat said.
Paralympics will begin on August 28, and with less than two weeks to go, Bhagat and his legal team are working to overturn the decision.
The Indian shuttler believes that his chances of featuring in Paris are quite difficult, considering what happened with India wrestler Vinesh Phogat's plea to CAS, which was delayed a couple of times.
"It is very difficult. If I don't play in Paris and then the decision comes in my favour, it won't be beneficial for me. I won't consider it my achievement. You can see what happened with Vinesh Phogat. They made a hard decision in my favour just because I am a big player," Bhagat concluded.
