Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav was banned for four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday, effectively bringing an end to his Olympic campaign that was supposed to start on Friday against France’s Zelimkhan Khadjiev.
"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 four-year period of ineligibility was imposed by the panel," said a statement from CAS. "Further more, all with all 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)."
Yadav, who won the Olympic quota with a bronze medal finish in the 2015 World Championships, tested positive for a banned steroid following a dope test in July. However, the National Anti-Doping Agency exonerated him of all charges on August 1, calling him a victim of sabotage.
On Tuesday, the World Anti-Doping Agency rejected that clean chit and appealed to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against the Indian body's decision.
(Note: An earlier version of the story had said that Narsingh Yadav had been cleared of all charges. This has been clarified.)
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