Indian Athletes Whose Medals Were Taken Back, 1 Padma Shri And 2 Arjuna Awardees Included

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the women's 50kg wrestling gold medal match for being 100 grams overweight than the prescribed weight and was not awarded a medal. However, Vinesh had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports and the comment on the matter from the ad-hoc panel is yet to come. But it is worth noting that Vinesh is not the sole Indian athlete who was handed over the disqualification or stripped of the medal.

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the gold medal match of the women's 50kg wrestling event at the Paris Olympics 2024 for being 100 grams overweight on the morning of the final bout at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Wednesday. Following her disqualification, Vinesh appealed on two counts. The first plea was to allow her to weigh in before the start of the gold medal bout while the second was to reward her with a joint silver medal as she had earned it within the prescribed weight limit during her bouts on Tuesday.

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) rejected the first plea immediately but accepted the second on Thursday and conducted a hearing on Friday evening and a result is expected to be announced at 9:30 PM on Saturday.

However, this is not the first occasion when the Indian athlete was disqualified from multinational events. The country has seen around 10 athletes being disqualified from major sports events. So, let's just delve into the topic and learn about the athletes who have been stripped of medals at the international level.

List Of Indians Who Were Stripped Of Medals In Asian Games, Commonwealth And Olympics

• Seema Antil:India's discus thrower Seema Antil, four-time Commonwealth Games medalist, was stripped of her gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships and issued a public warning by the national federation after being found guilty of the consumption of pseudoephedrine, a sympathomimetic drug often used as a nasal/sinus decongestant and stimulant.
• Sunita Rani:India's long-distance runner Sunita Rani, Padma Shri awardee - fourth-highest civilian award, was also stripped of her 2002 Asian Games gold (1,500m race) and bronze (5,000m) medal after failing to pass doping tests, the organising committee said. However, the medals were reinstatedafter an investigation.
• Anil Kumar and Neelam Singh: Arjuna awardees and discus throwers Anil Kumar and Neelam Singh, who was the first Indian woman athlete to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games, were handed a two-year suspension for doping. The duo tested positive for Norandrosterone, a derivative of nandrolone, and Pemoline, respectively. Anil Kumar was disqualified from the Asian Championships in Incheon and stripped of his bronze medal while Neelam was stripped of her silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
• Shanti Sounderajan:Shanti Sounderajan, who is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at the Continental Games, won a silver medal in the women's 800-meter race at the 2006 Doha Asian Games. Later, she was stripped of the medal for failing a gender test.
• Saurabh Vij: Shot putter Saurabh Vij had won a silver medal in the 2012 Asian Indoor Games and had secured a place in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. A month after the Asian Games, he tested positive for the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine and got a two-year ban. However, India's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) cleared him within weeks and he was allowed to participate in the Commonwealth Games.
• Harikrishnan Muralidharan, Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji: In 2011, NADA imposed one-year bans on six women athletes, including three gold medalists from the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in the 4x400m relay, as well as long jumper Harikrishnan Muralidharan. The banned athletes included Mandeep Kaur, Sini Jose, and Ashwini Akkunji, who were all part of the 4x400 relay team. Akkunji had tested positive for anabolic steroids before the Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan. Jose tested positive for the anabolic steroid Methandienone, and Mandeep tested positive for Methandienone and Stanozolol.

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