After being suspended by NADA, Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has now accused NADA of being arrogant and specifically targeting him. Bajrang Punia has claimed that NADA (National Anti Doping Agency) has been biased towards him and claimed that the body is keen on destroying his career.
Last week, Punia was slapped with his second NADA suspension. Previously, Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) lifted Punia’s suspension. The main reason being NADA’s failure to charge Punia to formally charge him. Bajrang failed to submit a sample during selection trials for the Paris Olympics.
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Bajrang Punia criticizes NADA
“This shows how NADA is targeting me, they don’t want me to continue wrestling at any cost,” Bajrang posted on social media.
“They have no answers and they don’t want to take responsibility for their mistakes. They just want to harass the athlete to get rid of him. NADA doesn’t want anyone to question their wrong ways and if someone does, he is targeted so that he cannot continue his sport. Why doesn’t NADA answer about the expired kit? Why doesn’t NADA answer how an unregistered chaperone who was not named in the mission order approached and pressured me for sample collection?,” Punia wrote.
Back in March, Bajrang Punia lost in the Selection trials that were held in Sonepat. Him losing the trails meant that he won’t be a part of the Indian contingent for the Paris Olympics 2024. As for the sample refusal issue, Punia claimed that wanted NADA to give an explanation as to why the national body was using an expired kit.
Punia unwilling to go down without a fight
As things stand, Punia has until 11th July to accept the charges or request for a hearing.
“Why doesn’t NADA answer why I was pressured to collect samples between two matches when they knew I had only 20 minutes to prepare for the next bout. If NADA wants to challenge the grit and determination of wrestlers to stand up for their rights for the sake of their arrogance, let them do it. The wrestler is here and will fight till the end. My lawyer will file his reply on time,” he concluded.
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