Ahead of Rio qualifiers, CAS gives green signal to Narsingh Yadav

New Delhi, Aug.18 (ANI): Providing a major relief to Narsingh Yadav, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on Thursday gave a clean chit to the grappler to participate in the 74kg men's freestyle category at the ongoing Rio Olympics. On Tuesday, Narsingh's Rio campaign hit another roadblock when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decided to appeal the CAS against the clean chit given to him by the National Anti-doping Agency (NADA) in New Delhi connection with doping charge. "Narsingh Yadav has been cleared by the CAS," confirmed lawyer Vidushpat Singhania. The decision means Narsingh will now kick start his Rio campaign on Friday when he takes on France's Zelimkhan Khadjiev in the qualification round. Earlier, NADA had paved the way for Narsingh to compete in the prestigious quadrennial event after its disciplinary panel exonerated the 26-year-old grappler from the charges of violating anti-doping rules saying he was a victim of sabotage perpetrated by a competitor. Narsingh, who bagged the quota with a bronze medal finish in last year's World Championships, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid on both his 'A' and 'B' samples. He was kept under provisionally suspension until the NADA's verdict. Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had earlier expressed his confidence that the embattled wrestler would be cleared by the CAS in his doping case. "WADA has appealed in the CAS. We have presented our case to WADA. They have set a hearing for 18th of August. Our lawyer will not be able to reach here by that time and, therefore, he will mark his presence either through telephone or video conference.I am totally confident that Narsingh will clear this hurdle as well. Our case is not at all weak," Brij Bhushan had then said. Interestingly, Narsingh was also selected for the Rio Olympics in controversial circumstances as two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had demanded for trials to determine who should go to the games. In the end, Narsingh was favoured for the same after fighting a lengthy legal battle with Sushil. (ANI)