Wrestling Federation to introduce fines on players to curb doping

Wrestling is perhaps one sport which has seen the greatest number of cases regarding doping and performance enhancing drugs intake- second probably only to athletics. When it comes to Indian grapplers competing in the National Circuit, cases of doping are rife with news seldom surfacing of the Wrestling Federation of India handing out bans to offenders. Now, that seems to be set for a change. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the WFI has now come up with a newer way to deter such offences. They have, reportedly, grown tired of paying hefty fines to United World Wrestling- the international parent body for the discipline- and have now decided to extract that amount from its wrestlers. "For each positive test we paid R 15 lakh approximately to the world body. Since the wrestlers didn't pay, the federation had to bear the burden for no fault its own," said WFI secretary Vinod Tomar as quoted in the same report. "So now we have a policy in place. If any wrestler doesn't pay fine after testing positive, he will face life ban," Tomar added.

Also read: Commonwealth Games 2018: 'Golds' at Gold Coast beckon Sushil Kumar and company of male wrestlers It was made quite clear that those failing the dope test will be charged with a fine of Rs 5 Lakh in addition to the sentence imposed by the National Anti-Doping Agency which would usually amount to a ban for a specific time period. "In case, they agree to pay later we will allow them to compete after they serve their normal ban period,' said Tomar. "It was decided during the annual general body meeting held last year that the rule will be applicable from 2018 season." The WFI has so far gathered a reputation for being quite lenient on its wrestlers because it has often chosen to support them when clamouring voices were high. The best example for this would probably be the stand the federation took in the case of wrestler Narsingh Yadav. How effectively this deterrent would be applied in practice remains to be seen. Among recent cases, two upcoming international wrestlers tested positive; Jiten (69kg Freestyle) and Manish (50 kg Greco Roman). Jiten's offence happened at the 2016 Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship while Manish was caught at the 2017 Junior Asian Championship.