PATIALA: The setting of the room was incongruous with the tragedy that has struck him. A guitar lay on the bed. The television splashed songs from ‘90s Bollywood films. It seemed the room located at the top of a double-storied building in Moti Bagh — less than a kilometer from NIS Patiala — was revving up to take the thud of a weekend party. It was not. They were just means of distraction. In front of the television was a man whose life had turned upside down in a week. Davinder Singh Kang. The first Indian javelin thrower to reach the World Championship final.
Ever since the news of his urine sample (taken on November 10) testing positive for an anabolic steroid broke out, the rented place has gone silent. Kang is crestfallen. If the rise of Neeraj Chopra was on the account of talent, here was a man who made it through hard work and will power. The new dope saga has reshaped his life, and Kang doesn’t know how to counter it. “I feel dreadful being called a dope cheat,” he said, staring at a paper fixed on the wall of his rented residence. It read: “90 metres”. Ninety metres and more was what Kang fantasised about this season.
But now, the figures don’t matter to him. All he wanted to keep intact was his reputation, as a fighter and as an athlete. Kang had been to his house in Jalandhar only thrice in three years. He said he didn’t want to disrupt his training. But now he fears being asked that question. “All for this?” Kang said even a state-level athlete won’t take steroids, especially one who’s expected to stay in the system for almost three months. “I am now at that level where I am expected to be tested every single week by WADA.
I am in their registered testing pool. So how can I take steroids?” Claiming that the blood sample taken on November 10 alongside urine sample had tested negative, Kang said he expected some foul play, and wanted his B sample to be tested abroad. “That’s what I want to request when I meet the Sports Minister next week. I am not asking for exoneration or anything.” Now 29, Kang said he was hoping to create a national record during the Federation Cup meet, stating that he was at his fittest. “Working under Uwe Hohn, I was in real good shape. The shoulder pain had gone and I was hoping to throw big.”
shan.as@newindianexpress.com