Sunita Rani in medals round

An OCA spokesperson from Kuwait told The Indian Express that this was the first time in the Asian Games that an athlete was getting back her medals after initially failing the dope test.

The much-waited clearance from the OCA came finally today in an official despatch from its president Sheikh Ahmed Al-fahad Al-Sabah. Sunita’s family in remote Sunam (Punjab) was elated with the news and her brother, Shinder Pal told this paper that they had deliberately sent Sunita to their relative’s village to avoid ‘‘the drama’’ now that she had been vindicated in her stand.

Sunita’s family however said that their fight was still not over. ‘‘We have now entered the final phase — we will now ask those people who had maligned Sunita to apologise or face a defamation case. We are warning Jyotirmoyee Sikdar to withdraw her remarks or else we will take her to the court,’’ said Shinder Pal.

He said Jyotirmoyee’s allegations were borne out of jealousy because she did not get the Padma Shri. ‘‘She (Jyotirmoyee) forgot that Sunita had set the pace for her run in the 1998 Asian Games to win the gold.’’

Credit for today’s decision also lies partly with Sushil Salwan, the lawyer whose inquiry report pointed out the abnormal discrepancies in Sunita’s dope test reports conducted in Seoul, and which paved the way for her clearance from the International Olympic Committee medical commission.

Salwan was a satisfied man after receiving the news and he said, ‘‘I am happy that my report was finally accepted by the IOC and the OCA.’’ Salwan’s report had come down heavily on the functioning of the various federations, the Sports Authority of India and the roles of the coaches and doctors. It is this aspect that Salwan now hopes will be taken care of.

Earlier, in a press release today, the OCA president said, ‘‘The OCA is now pleased to confirm that it has cleared Ms Rani of all charges and is extremely pleased to reinstate her and return her medals.’’ The OCA secretary general Randhir Singh said that the medals, which are in Kuwait at OCA headquarters, would be handed over to Sunita Rani “very soon” at a ceremony here.

Sunita Rani, who had won a gold medal in women’s 1,500m and a bronze in 5,000m, was stripped of her medals after testing ‘positive’ for a banned substance nandralone in the post-race dope tests.

It was quite expected that Indian officials would not miss the opportunity to take the credit for getting Sunita cleared. When the official announcement was made today, Salwan was also forgotten in a hurry.