Olympics-bound Indian wrestler suspended after dope test: reports

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NEW DELHI, June 6, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Indian wrestler Sumit Malik has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test, meaning he is likely to miss the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, local media reported.

Banned substance methylhexaneamine was found in the Commonwealth Games gold medallist’s urine sample at a qualifier event in May in Sofia, the reports said Saturday.

The 125-kg freestyler’s sample was collected by United World Wrestling which subsequently provisionally suspended Malik for six months until December 2021, the Times of India reported.

The Wrestling Federation of India confirmed Malik’s suspension, the Hindustan Times quoted assistant-secretary Vinod Tomar as saying.

Malik has to give a B sample on June 10 and if this also returns positive, he could face a ban.

“I believe that he must have taken something unknowingly. Maybe he was taking some medicine to treat his injured knee and that might have contained some banned substances,” Tomar told the Hindustan Times.