Tokyo delay opens door for dope-tainted Indian wrestler
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Published 26/03/2020 at 09:14 GMT
The postponement of the Tokyo Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic may have opened the door for dope-tainted Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav to realise his dream of winning an Olympic medal.
IOC wishes to cut wrestling from 2020 Olympics
Image credit: Eurosport
Yadav was handed a four-year doping ban just hours before his first bout at the Rio Olympics after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) won its appeal against an earlier exoneration.
An Indian anti-doping disciplinary panel had previously ruled the freestyle wrestler was the victim of "sabotage" and cleared him to compete at the 2016 Games.
While the ban would have kept Yadav out of the reckoning for Tokyo, the decision to put the Games back to 2021 may have afforded him another Olympic opportunity.
"It is destiny that this opportunity has come my way," Yadav told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
"This is not the time to feel elated because the world and our country are battling a big crisis. But yes, I will be looking to make a return to the mat the moment the ban is over in July."
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