CHENNAI: Veteran bridge player Arvind Vaidya, who had been banned for two years for a doping offence, has been exonerated. The National Anti-doping Agency’s Anti-Doping Appeals Panel agreed with his argument and set aside the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel’s verdict.
It was updated on NADA’s website. Vaidya, during the ADDP hearing, had said that he was on medication for hypertension and that he did not know that the medicine he had been taking contained banned substances.
“My current physician did an internet search in my presence for a CTD-T 120x40 dual potency tablet, which is a tablet for hypertension treatment and found that ‘Chlortalidone’, which is a diuretic, is a major ingredient of CTD-1 tablet. I had no knowledge of this until yesterday,” he had said through a written submission last year.
Vaidya also said that he had been playing bridge since 1991 both in India and abroad and has won national title thrice. “Bridge is a game played across all age groups with an adult population being more in numbers. I am 58 years old. We bridge players have neither any knowledge nor any need for physical/muscular enhancement.” The ADDP, however, did not accede to his request.