The Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia, one of the leaders of the protests against the head of the national federation accused of sexual harassment, has been suspended for four years for refusing a control antidopingthe Indian anti-doping agency (NADA) announced on Tuesday.
Bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021the 30-year-old fighter was provisionally suspended last May after refusing to provide a urine sample during a recent national team test.
Punia appealed the allegations and the suspension was initially overturned, but NADA confirmed it in a statement on Tuesday.
The fighter claims not to have refused to submit to the control, but rather to have distrusted the kit supplied to deliver the sample, which in his opinion was expired.
Last year he participated in a protest in New Delhi alongside wrestlers who accused Brij Bhushan Singh, then head of the wrestling federation and a member of the BJP, the Hindu nationalist party in power, of sexual harassment.
The former leader denied having touched and demanded sexual favors from the fighters.
Punia has since joined the opposition Congress Party.
According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), India recorded the highest number of frauds linked to doping cases in the world in 2022.
India is the only country to have registered more than 100 positive cases, even higher than countries with a much higher number of athletes, such as China or the United States.
