Bajrang Punia, an Indian Olympic wrestler who participated in high-profile demonstrations last year, has been suspended for four years for evading a drug test.
The 30-year-old bronze medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, Punia, had been placed on provisional suspension in March for not giving a sample of urine to national anti-doping agency (NADA) officials.
According to a NADA statement on Tuesday, Punia denied the accusations and the suspension was first revoked; nevertheless, he has since been banned.
Punia has insisted on his innocence, claiming that he was cautious about what he said was an outdated kit that authorities brought to collect his sample but that he did not object to testing.
Last year, he participated in a sit-in protest in New Delhi against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a politician from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing party and the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Singh is on trial for alleged sexual favor-seeking and touching of female athletes, which he denies.
Punia said that Singh was retaliating for his complaints by imposing the testing restriction.
Since then, Punia and Olympian and fellow protest wrestler Vinesh Phogat have joined the opposition Congress Party.
According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, in 2022, the most recent year for which statistics are available, India had the greatest number of drug cheaters worldwide.
