Wrestler-turned politician Vinesh Phogat has received a notice on Wednesday from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for whereabouts failure and sought an explanation within 14 days, reported PTI.
Vinesh Phogat had announced her retirement from wrestling following her disqualification from the Paris Olympics in August stating she doesn’t have the strength to continue.
She was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics. Depressed with the turnaround of events, Phogat announced her decision via social media.
What NADA rules say?
According to the rules, all the athletes registered with NADA’s Registered Testing Pool (RTP) are required to provide details about their availability for dope tests.
When an athlete fill the details and are found not available on that location at that given time, it is considered a whereabouts failure.
The NADA, in its notice, conveyed to Phogat that she had apparently committed a whereabouts failure as she was not available for a dope test on September 9 at her house in Kharkhoda village in Sonepat.
“You are hereby given a formal notice to notify you about apparent failure to comply with the whereabouts requirements of the ADR, and to invite you to make any comments before we come to a final decision on the matter,” the NADA notice read.
“A Dope Control Officer (DCO) was sent to test you on that day at that time and place. However, he was unable to locate you for testing as you were not available at the given location.”
What left for Phogat?
The wrestler-turned-politician will now either accept the failure or provide evidence that she was present in that location for about 60 minutes.
As per the rules, one whereabouts failure does not constitute an anti-doping rule violation. For this, there must be three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period for NADA to charge an athlete.
What is Phogat doing these days?
Currently, Phogat joined the Congress party and is contesting the upcoming Haryana Assembly election from Julana constituency.
She has been busy campaigning in the Julana constituency these days.