Rio 2016: Hang Me If I Am Guilty, Would Have Won Medal, Narsingh Yadav to NDTV

On a day that Narsingh Yadav should have been competing on the wrestling mat at the Rio Olympics, he was confined to an apartment in a Rio neighbourhood after he was asked to leave the Olympic Games village.

"For the last 24 hours, I have just been lying on the bed. I didn't have the energy to do anything. My mind is blank," the 74kg wrestler told NDTV in Rio.

On the eve of Narsingh's competition, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) banned him for four years for a doping violation. CAS did not buy Narsingh's argument that his food was spiked while training at the SAI centre in Sonepat, ahead of the Rio Olympics. Therefore, the standard four-year period of ineligibility was imposed by the panel.



"The CAS Panel did not accept the argument of the athlete that he was the victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional," the judgement read.

This after the 74kg wrestler's name had already been put in the draw and his weighing-in formalities completed.

"If I am guilty, then hang me if you like, but the truth is that I've never taken drugs in my life", a distraught Narsingh said.

"I saw the matches of my weight category today, if I was allowed to play, I would have easily won a medal. Today, Narsingh hasn't lost a medal, India has."

The embattled Mumbai based grappler has maintained all along that his scandalous dope test was a result of conspiracy by rivals who spiked his food or drinks.

"Police in India didn't do their job well or the culprit could have been caught. I beg the government to order a CBI enquiry into this matter."

Yadav had originally escaped a ban over two positive tests earlier this year for the banned substance methandienone after India's national anti-doping agency accepted his explanation that his food or drink had been tampered with.