Correct Answer : 4 Years
* India’s Olympic medal-winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, who took part in protests against the country’s former wrestling body chief in 2023, has been banned for four (4) years for avoiding a doping test.
* Punia, 30, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, had been provisionally suspended for refusing to provide a urine sample to national anti-doping agency (NADA) officers in March.
* Punia contested the charges and the suspension was initially lifted, but he has since been handed a ban, according to a NADA statement on Tuesday.
* Punia has maintained his innocence, saying he did not refuse testing but was wary of what he said was an expired kit that officials brought to take his sample.
* Many of India’s top wrestlers led a noisy sit-in protest in New Delhi against the then-chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a politician from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.
* The protesting wrestlers demanded Singh’s removal over allegations of groping female athletes and demanding sexual favours from them.
* The 66-year-old denied all charges and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy to force him out of parliament.
* Punia alleged the testing ban was part of Singh’s revenge for his protests.
* Wrestling is hugely popular in rural northern India, and star athletes saw a wellspring of public support.
* Punia, along with fellow protest wrestler and Olympian Vinesh Phogat, have since joined the opposition Congress Party.
* The World Anti-Doping Agency says India recorded the world’s highest number of drug cheats in 2022 – the latest year for which figures are available.
* India was the only country to have more than 100 positive results, with countries that tested more athletes such as China, the United States and Russia producing fewer violations..
Source : Aljazeera
