Shot-putter Inderjeet Singh handed 4-year ban by CAS after WADA challenged NADA Appeal Panel's decision

Indian shot-putter Inderjeet Singh was handed a four-year ban by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Wednesday. The ban comes after CAS overturned India’s National Anti-Doping Association (NADA) Appeal Panel’s decision to give a clean chit to the former Asian Games Shot-put champion and World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) appealed against NADA’s decision.

NADA had imposed a four-year ban on Inderjeet following a long-drawn procedure lasting around one-and-a-half years, a disciplinary panel in July 2018 had pronounced the suspension on Inderjeet, who tested positive twice – on June 22, 2016 and June 29, 2016 out-of-competition and in-competition tests respectively for banned steroids. But the shot-putter appealed against the decision in the Appeal Panel which found flaws in Nada’s ruling. It acquitted Inderjeet of the ban after the appeal panel noted the fact that in case of the sample collected at Bhiwani on June 22, 2016, there was a gap of several hours between the collection time and submission time. It was stated that the sample was stored overnight at the residence of the dope control officer.

The CAS order has not been made public. A source close to Inderjeet said he might challenge the order. “It came two days ago and is a long one. We have to study it and consider appealing within 21 days. The CAS has already put the costs on us and international arbitrations are expensive affairs,” said the source to Sportstar on Wednesday.