Pooja Dhanda, a wrestler, received a one-year penalty for her whereabouts offense
A former global and Asian championship medalist has been banned for a year for three missed location errors in a year, while the Indian wrestling scene is collapsing. Pooja Dhanda, a wrestler who placed third in the world championships in 2018, was barred from the 15.06.2023 tournament after being found guilty of reporting failures and missing drug collections (a “light degree” offense).
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel reports that three instances of missing tests and incomplete filings were noted over a 12-month period in 2022. Given her membership in the NADA’s Registered Testing Pool, she ought to be accessible for testing every day within the designated 60-minute interval. She was advised by the NADA that she must also provide her quarterly whereabouts. Her attorneys, Achyuth Jayagopal and sports attorney Vidushpat Singhania, attended the session. Abantika Deka, Manik S. Ghadlinge, Charu Pragya (chairperson), and the others made up the Quorum.
The athlete, according to ADDP, failed to report her whereabouts in quarter three (Q3), and on July 6, 2022, the NADA sent her a filing failure notice requesting an explanation for the failure to file within a 14-day period. Given that no notification was received until November 26, the NADA deemed this to be a filing failure.
The wrestler received notification from ADDP for the next whereabouts violation in the fourth quarter (Q4: October-December) when it was determined that the file was incomplete. On the other hand, Pooja defended herself, claiming that she had previously reported her location in October before getting the notification. She said, “It is also mentioned that a glitch on the ADAMS program prevented the Athlete from updating her whereabouts information for Q-4. The athlete had complained to NADA via email on November 28, 2022, stating that the WADA ADAMS application did not include her location information. However, since she delayed providing her location information, the NADA saw it as a failure.
The third occurred on December 21, 2022, in Q4 due to a missed test violation. She was not accessible for drug collection when the dope control officer arrived at her Hisar home, according to ADDP. The wrestler said that her trip to Visakhapatnam for nationals was the reason she skipped the exam. Pooja’s attorney during the court, Singhania, said that they requested leniency since there had been problems with updating Pooja’s location in the ADAMS.
The NADA panel said that they believe the athlete violated Article 2.4 of the Anti-Doping Rules 2021 by failing to provide her first whereabouts information for Question 3 and her second whereabouts information for Question 4 in a timely manner. In Q4, she also failed a test.
The ADDP order stated: “The panel finds that the athlete is subject to punishment under Article 10.3.2. The panel determined that the athlete was at fault for a minor infraction and that her case fell under the light degree of fault. The athlete will be ineligible for one (1) year.”
According to Singhania, “the athlete was attempting to complete the whereabouts form and, when unable, to notify the NADA.” The NADA panel likewise determined that the offense was of a low degree and suspended the offender for a year, starting on June 15, 2023. Six months have passed as of right now, and she has another six months to make a reappearance. We won’t file an appeal in opposition to the directive.
