Weighlifting: Commonwealth champion Sairaj tests positive for doping after raising sabotage conspiracy

The 2025 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships gold medallist Sairaj Pardeshi has tested positive for doping months after filing an official complaint about a conspiracy to sabotage his career.

As per a report in Hindi daily Amar Ujala, Pardeshi suspected a coach involved with the national camp of trying to get him trapped in the doping net.

In a complaint filed with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sports Authority of India, and Indian Weightlifting Federation, Pardeshi alleged that a fellow athlete at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala had a recording of a female coach plotting against him.

However when the investigation into the complaint raised by Pardeshi commenced, the fellow athlete refused to furnish the recording in question.

Pardeshi's samples returned positive after an out-of-competition test in February 2026 before the investigation was completed. His samples showed traces of Mesterolone – an androgenic steroid.

Interestingly, Pardeshi had won the Commonwealth Championships gold medal in men's 88kg in August 2025. He was then tested in October and December last year and his samples returned clean.

The National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) has handed Pardeshi an interim suspension. He now stares at a four-year suspension if he fails to prove the controversy. This would mean that he might miss the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games, significantly hurting India's medal chances.

This is not the first time that an Indian athlete has cried foul for doping related offences. Just under a decade ago before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, wrestler Narsingh Yadav had accused two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar of sabotaging him via the same method.