CWG 2026: Judoka Arun Kumar dropped from Indian squad for doping

As the Commonwealth Games 2026 is set to get underway on Thursday, India's judo contingent suffered an early setback after men's 73kg judoka Arun Kumar was ruled ineligible to compete following an adverse analytical finding (AAF) in an out-of-competition dope test.

The Judo Federation of India (JFI), which was informed of the development on Wednesday, immediately withdrew Arun from the Indian squad and notified the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Sports Ministry, federation president Mukesh Kumar told The Bridge.

"We came to know about this yesterday, and as soon as we got the notification, we informed the IOA and the ministry and withdrew his name," Mukesh said.

The JFI chief also clarified that Arun had not travelled with the Indian contingent, as the judo team is scheduled to leave for Glasgow on July 27.

"No, he's still in India. The team is supposed to leave on the 27th," he said.

Mukesh added that the late development has had no direct impact on the team's preparations, as the squad is yet to depart for the Games.

"We came to know only yesterday. This is a recent development. The team is still in India, so there is no direct effect. I'm yet to talk to the team about it," he said.

Speaking about the federation's anti-doping measures, Mukesh said JFI regularly educates its athletes.

"We keep on educating our players, but it is the individual who has to take care of what to eat, what not to eat and how to be careful. These players are already competing at the international level, so they know the basic dos and don'ts. We need to enquire into what happened and how he got involved in such a situation," he said.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) issued Arun Kumar an adverse analytical finding (AAF) notice following an out-of-competition test.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) subsequently informed the Glasgow 2026 organisers that the Indian judoka was ineligible to compete, leading to his removal from the Games' Sports Entries System.

India will not be able to field a replacement in the men's 73kg category, with Arun's withdrawal coming on the day of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.

This further takes down India's contingent to 124 athletes. The country had earlier named 126 athletes for 2026 Commonwealth Games before para swimmer Tejas Nandakumar's name had to be withdrawn due to classification issues.