Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist grappler Bajrang Punia received a much-needed shot in the arm after the Anti Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) has revoked the provisional suspension slapped on him a couple of months back.
Punia was served a notice by National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) on April 23 following his refusal to give a sample after the selection trial for Olympics qualifier on March 10 in Sonepat, and subsequently the world governing body UWW also took similar action.
Bajrang had challenged the provisional suspension through his lawyers and reiterated in his reply to ADDP that he never refused to provide sample but just wanted to know why NADA has not replied to his earlier query on action taken by the National Anti-Doping Agency for sending expired kit to take his sample in December 2023.
The NADA Disciplinary Panel, comprising Sunny Choudhary, Dr. Rana Chengappa and Abantika Deka, on May 31 noted that “the notice of charge is yet to be issued to the athlete” and ordered “the provisional suspension of the athlete is revoked till NADA decides to issue the notice of charge to the athlete for the violation of anti-doping rules.”
It remains to be seen whether NADA pursues the matter further and decides to issue Notice of Charge to Bajrang. If the Notice of Charge is not issued, the matter will be closed and if it is issued, a final hearing will be conducted.
The NADA disciplinary panel said it is premature to go into the merits and demerits of the case, and added if NADA decides to issue the notice of charge to the athlete then the matter will be listed for final hearing.