Narsingh Yadav’s Rio Olympics dreams dashed: Here’s how twitterati reacted

JSW Sports, Narsingh's sponsor, said they will appeal for a review on the ban. People have also taken to Twitter to share their views.

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My dream of competing and winning the country a medal at the Rio Olympics has been cruelly snatched away from me, says Narsingh Yadav.

Narsingh Yadav’s hopes of competing at the Olympics were shattered after the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on Friday overturned the clean chit given to Narsingh by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and slapped him with a four year ban.

“The parties were informed that the application was upheld, that Narsingh Yadav was sanctioned with a four-year ineligibility period starting today and that any period of provisional suspension or ineligibility effectively served by the athlete before the entry into force of this award shall be credited against the total period of ineligibility to be served,” CAS said in a statement.

“Furthermore, all competitive results obtained by Narsingh Yadav from and including 25 June 2016 shall be disqualified, with all resulting consequences (including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes). The CAS Panel did not accept the argument of the athlete that he was the victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. Therefore the standard 4-year period of ineligibility was imposed by the Panel,” it added.

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Narsingh was totally devastated with the news. With a sombre mood he commented on the unfortunate turn of events.

“To say I am devastated at the decision of CAS would be putting it mildly. I have gone through so much over the last two months off the mat but the thought of fighting for the glory of the nation at the Games had kept me going. My dream of competing and winning the country a medal at the Rio Olympics has been cruelly snatched away from me twelve hours before my first bout,” Narsingh, who was to fight in men’s 74kg category, said.

“But I will do everything it takes to prove my innocence. It is all I have left to fight for,” he said in a statement issued by his sponsors JSW Sports.

His sponsor has come out in support of Narsingh and said that they will appeal for a review. People on social media have also shared their views on the matter.

Here’s how twitterati reacted.

A mother goes through a lot when a child has to go thru all this,sad to hear of #NarsinghYadav ‘s ban,needs invstgtn pic.twitter.com/A6qWRjdecd

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) 19 August 2016

PM @narendramodi Sir u raised your voice agnst injustice done to champion #NarsinghYadav. Please order CBI probe. #Sabotage #Treason #4YrBan

— Rahul Mehra (@TheRahulMehra) 19 August 2016

#NarsinghYadav Was Defeated by His Own People: Indian Olympic Association—dodging the Internal #politics is the greatest huddle.

— Akashdeep Sinha (@akashoct24) 19 August 2016
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The 27-year-old wrestler was to take on France’s Zelimkhan Khadjiev in the qualification round at Rio 2016 Olympics.