CWG 2026: Tulika Maan provisionally suspended for whereabouts failure; set to miss the Games

India's Commonwealth Games campaign has suffered a major setback after Olympian and Birmingham 2022 silver medallist Tulika Maan was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) over alleged whereabouts failures, putting her participation at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in doubt.

"This is a very big shock for us," Banee Brata Das, General Secretary of the Judo Federation of India (JFI), told The Bridge over a phone call.

Tulika’s provisional suspension marks the second anti-doping setback for Indian judo in as many days after fellow judoka Arun was also ruled out of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games due to a doping violation, dealing a twin blow to India’s medal hopes.

Tulika, who won silver in the women's +78kg category at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, is one of India's leading medal prospects in judo.

The Indian judo contingent is scheduled to leave for Glasgow on July 27, with competition beginning on July 31.

"I don't know why she did all these things. Several times she was called for collecting the sports kits also, but she never went there and she never gave her whereabouts. This is a very big shock for us," he said.

According to sources, the 27-year-old has allegedly accumulated three whereabouts failures within a rolling 12-month period, triggering a provisional suspension under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.

A whereabouts failure is an anti-doping rule compliance issue that includes filing failures and missed out-of-competition tests.

Under WADA rules, any combination of three filing failures and/or missed tests within a 12-month period constitutes an anti-doping rule violation and can attract a suspension unless successfully challenged.

Speaking to this publication, Das said the federation was informed by NADA only a few days ago.

"Last three-four days back we got a message from NADA that they are not finding her whereabouts. So we also tried to locate her, but we couldn't. Yesterday night only we found her, and this morning we called her to the office," he said.

According to Das, Tulika later met anti-doping officials along with her coach.

"We called her to the office. We have nothing in our hand, so we sent her to the NADA office. She went there with her coach. When we talked to them now, they told us she has been put under temporary suspension and by Monday they will confirm it," he said.

Asked whether there was any possibility of Tulika returning to the Commonwealth Games squad, Das said the matter was no longer in the federation's hands.

"NADA has already informed the Commonwealth Games organising Committee. We can't do anything right now," he said.

Das described the development as a major setback for Indian judo and suggested that federations should be informed earlier in such cases to facilitate replacement planning.

"Improvement is needed. They waited till the last moment. It is very difficult for us to control the situation. At least if we got 10-15 days' time, then it would have been good so that we could prepare our next boys and girls," he said.

Tulika, meanwhile, refused to comment on the situation when reached out.

Tulika is the fourth athlete to have been withdrawn from the earlier announced 126-member Indian squad. Para swimmer Tejas Nadakumar, judoka Arun Kumar, and weightlifter Dilbag were all earlier pulled out for varied reasons.