CHENNAI: Ahead of the 2026 Asian Games in Japan, scheduled to begin on September 19, India received another big doping jolt as a medal potential in wrestling tested positive for a stimulant (Mephentermine). The wrestler has since been provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). The freestyle wrestler in question, Mukul Dahiya, competes in the 86kg weight category and won a silver medal in the 2026 Asian Championships. He is currently attending an exposure-cum-training camp in Yerevan, Armenia along with Asian Games-bound freestyle wrestlers. Given the situation, India will go unrepresented in the weight category now.
Interestingly, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is unaware of the development. A few days ago, another selected wrestler Deepanshu (Greco-Roman, 130kg) was provisionally suspended by the NADA for failing an out-of-competition dope test. The WFI named him in the long list but replaced him with Ronak Dahiya, who lost to Deepanshu in the selection trials held in Lucknow on May 31. However, the final list has been sent by the WFI to the IOA and a replacement looks impossible. The suspension list has been accessed by this daily.
"Usually, we get the intimation along with the athlete in question but this time the NADA didn't inform us. We learnt that the list was updated on August 4. Had the NADA informed us, we could have replaced Mukul but now that weight category, in all probability, will have no athlete from the country," a WFI source told this daily. It should be noted that the federation sent the list of selected wrestlers to the Indian Olympic Association in the first week of June.
The WFI was informed about Deepanshu around July 20 following which it got the wrestler replaced.
Mephentermine is a sympathomimetic medication used to treat severe low blood pressure (hypotension), particularly during spinal anesthesia or surgical procedures. It works by stimulating the heart and narrowing blood vessels to quickly raise and stabilize blood pressure.
The list has names of several high profile athletes like heptathlete Swapna Barman, who recently announced her retirement. However, Mukul's suspension will hurt India a lot at the continental showpiece event as wrestling is considered one of the strongest disciplines of the country.
"We have spoken to the coaches in Armenia and they informed us that Mukul has not been training for the past three-four days. He is looking off-colour, the coaches told us which means he knew about the test result. But that doesn't serve the purpose. Timely information could have saved the government's money as well as we would not have sent him to Armenia," added the WFI source.
Notably, in a similar incident India's weightlifting contingent's quota was reduced by one due to Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The team comprising 12 lifters trained in Birmingham for the CWG but the quota reduction meant only 11 could compete while Dilbag Singh, who was supposed to compete in the 94kg weight category, was withdrawn from the squad at the last moment.