India loses Asiad medal due to Parveen’s suspension

NEW DELHI: In the wake of boxer Parveen Hooda’s suspension by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for whereabouts failure, India on Monday lost the bronze medal she had won in the women’s 57kg division at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year. “The athlete’s results obtained between December 11, 2022 until May 17, 2024 stand disqualified,” ITA had said.
The bronze Parveen had won in Hangzhou had landed her the Paris Olympics quota place.But after losing her Paris berth and a chance to compete at the Olympics owing to her suspension for 22 months by ITA, Parveen was stripped of her Asiad bronze for committing three whereabouts failure in the period between April 2022 and March 2023 as per the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) rules. Her ban will be in force till July 16, 2025.
Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) secretary general, Hemanta Kalita, confirmed the development to TOI: “We requested ITA not to strip Parveen of her Asian Games bronze medal, but they didn’t listen to the federation’s plea. She will lose her Asiad bronze since that was the only international medal won by her during the ineligibility period imposed on her by the ITA. It’s a great setback for everyone.”
ITA had proposed a sanction on Parveen, entailing the imposition of an ineligibility period of 22 months. However, the ban period was backdated by eight months as compared to the initial suspension period of 24 months backdated by six months. In essence, the total sanction period will be of 14 months, starting from May 17, 2024.
India’s medal count at the Asiad will now come down from 107 to 106. But it will not affect the country’s fourth-place finish at the multisport event. ITA said in a statement that Wada and India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada) have a right to appeal against the sanction before the appeals division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.