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What's the story?
The one-year doping ban on former Asian silver medalist Sumit Sangwan (91 KG) was lifted after a panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) ruled that Sangwan's intake of a banned substance was unintentional. The 27-year-old boxer was cleared after a NADA panel hearing on Monday.
In case you didn’t know
Sumit Sangwan was banned for a year in December 2019 after testing positive for Acetazolamide, which is listed as a diuretic and masking agent under the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of prohibited substances. The ban which was imposed in December and ended Sumit's hope of making it to the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Heart of the matter
An official of the Boxing Federation of India told the PTI:
"Sumit has been cleared and his ban lifted as he has convinced the NADA panel that the diuretic he tested positive for was a case of unintentional intake."
From the beginning, Sangwan had referred to the intake as an unintentional one and was relieved when the NADA panel cleared him.
“I am relieved, a huge weight is off my shoulders. I knew I wasn’t in the wrong. I am glad I could prove myself. I convinced the NADA panel of my innocence by submitting some medical reports, which I had not presented in the first hearing when the ban was imposed on me".
“The doctors in the panel agreed that the presence of the substance in my system at the time of testing despite me taking the medicine much earlier was because an enlarged liver had prevented it getting flushed out in the normal course of seven days".
What's next?
Sangwan's ban ruled him out of Olympic contention and the boxer will not get a chance to participate in the Asian qualifiers which are slated to begin tomorrow as well.
He will write to the federation in order to get reinstated to the national camp on the back of his record.
Sangwan, who was the national champion when he was banned, added:
"I hope to put this all behind me and find my way back to the top."
