Four Indian wrestlers fail dope tests, miss home Games

A view of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium constructed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games is pictured during its inauguration ceremony in New Delhi in this July 27, 2010 file photo. Four wrestlers were axed from the Indian squad for failing dope tests barely a month before the Commonwealth Games begin.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Four wrestlers were axed from the Indian squad on Thursday for failing dope tests barely a month before the Commonwealth Games begin there.

They have been provisionally suspended after Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) received a report from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), WFI President GS Mander said in a statement.

"The ... wrestlers from the Commonwealth Games team have tested positive for methylhexaneamine, as per the report received from NADA," Mander said.

Three freestyle wrestlers -- Sumit (74 Kg), Masuam Khatri (96 Kg), Rajiv Tomar (120 Kg) -- and female grappler Gursharanpreet Kaur (72 Kg) tested positive for the substance which is also used as nasal decongestant.

Narsingh Pancham Yadav (74 Kg), Anil Mann (96 Kg), Praveen (120 Kg) and Anshu Tomar (72 Kg) were named as replacements after the emergency meeting of WFI's selection committee.

In January, four Indian wrestlers training for the Oct. 3-14 Commonwealth Games were asked to leave camp after testing positive for a banned substance.

Doping has been a recurring problem in India with weightlifting producing the highest number of offenders.

In fact, participation of the Indian lifters in the Commonwealth Games was uncertain as the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) struggled to pay the fine they had incurred.

After six lifters failed drugs tests last year, IWF was fined $500,000 by the international body, which threatened to ban the federation if the amount was not cleared in full by August.

The IWF paid $125,000 from its funds and borrowed the rest as an interest-free loan from the Games organisers to clear the way for the lifters' participation in the first Commonwealth Games in India.

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty, edited by Jon Bramley)

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