Superbiker Vijay Singh’s DNA evaluation proves he didn’t dope again in 2018

Superbike champion Vijay Singh would have joined the notorious checklist of dope cheats in India if he hadn’t thought out of the field.
He insisted on a DNA evaluation to verify if the urine pattern by which a banned anabolic steroid was detected was truly his.
On Thursday, the rider was exonerated after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited lab in London confirmed that the pattern which contained the anabolic steroid wasn’t Singh’s, his lawyer Vidushpat Singhania stated.
It dropped at an finish Singh’s quest to clear his title which started over two years in the past.
Singh, a 600cc rider, was instructed he had failed a dope check in late 2018. Samples had been collected in-competition by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida throughout the 2018 nationwide racing championship.
The leisure rider felt one thing was amiss when an anabolic steroid generally related to energy sports activities confirmed up in his pattern.
In January final 12 months, he was banned for 4 years.
Legal combat
However, as a substitute of accepting his destiny, the 35-year-old knocked on the doorways of the Delhi High Court to get NADA, which was dragging its ft, to gather his blood and urine pattern for DNA evaluation at a lab in London.
The course of was simple: extract DNA from the unique pattern and examine it with the newer blood and urine samples to verify for a match.
“In my case, a bodybuilding steroid showed up. I knew it was impossible. I wasn’t on any medication nor was I taking any whey protein. I had requested the NADA (disciplinary) panel to look at CCTV footage, to question the dope control officer, but they refused. I was ready to pay for the DNA analysis. WADA allows it but the disciplinary panel refused to listen to me. They were very high-handed,” Singh tells The Indian Express.
The method by which pattern was collected on the circuit in late 2018, Singh says, raised considerations.
“My race finished at 9.30 am but they took my urine sample at around 3.30 pm. When I had gone to give my sample, they called everybody together, including the car racing guys. There were 20 people at the place where samples were being collected, including family members and friends of some of the participants. There was no proper protocol,” Singh claims.

According to Singhania, the biker’s ordeal began when he was not given a listening to for over a 12 months. “For one year when they did not give a hearing, we went to the high court (in 2019). The high court gave an order for a hearing. Then the disciplinary panel banned him for four years, saying we will not call for any evidence,” Singhania stated.
However, Singh was given a affected person listening to by the appeals panel, which gave the go-ahead in March final 12 months for a DNA evaluation if he was able to bear the associated fee.
WADA too noticed no motive to reject the request and referred him to an accredited lab in London.
“NADA sat for months on the WADA reply. Even after the athlete deposited the money for DNA testing, they did not do anything. The athlete organised the courier company. But NADA was like ‘you have paid the money and now wait’. They did not budge,” Singhania claimed.
Singh’s authorized workforce forwarded practically 30 emails, however samples (blood and urine) for DNA evaluation had been collected solely after the High Court, in March this 12 months, directed NADA to take action inside 48 hours of the order.
What about others?
Singh says he’s lucky. Being properly off, he might afford to shell out roughly Rs 10 lakh in all, together with lawyer charges, testing prices and journey back and forth from Jaipur, the place he’s primarily based, to Delhi. “The DNA testing alone was Rs 1.5 lakh,” Singh stated. He shudders when he thinks what might be the destiny of somebody with lesser means who takes an identical combat to court docket.
“I can afford it. I do this (racing) as a recreation. But if tomorrow, say this happens to a wrestler from a modest background, he won’t be able to defend himself because he cannot afford it. He will be back working on a farm.”
Singh is all for hunting down cheats, however says there must be a change of tradition inside the nationwide anti-doping watchdog.
“You can check any time, I’ve no qualms about that. But if a system doesn’t work like a system however in a really ad-hoc method, you’re going to get skewed outcomes. It has to work in a scientific method. Otherwise, what’s the level?
At a number of ranges, they (NADA) breached protocols and had been merely not prepared to just accept that.”
NADA director basic Siddharth Singh Longjam didn’t reply to calls or messages.