Asian Championship medallist wrestler Seema Bisla banned for one year

NEW DELHI: The Tokyo Olympian and 2021 Asian Championship bronze medallist wrestler Seema Bisla has been handed a one-year suspension for 'whereabouts failure'.

Seema, who participates in the 50kg weight category in women's freestyle, has been handed a one-year suspension by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP). The ADDP passed the order to ban the 30-year-old Seema Bisla on July 21 and her name was included in the list put up by the National Anti-Doping Agency.

This is the third violation of anti-doping rules reported by NADA recently with a 14-year-old Asain Games-bound swimmer and a wushu player who had tested positive for banned substances.

Though Seema Bisla has been banned because of a whereabouts violation, NADA has not made it clear whether it was a filing failure or missed test. The period of ineligibility started in May 2023.

As per the World Athletics Anti-Doping (WADA) rules, three whereabouts failures -- whether filing failure and/or missed test -- within 12 months constitute an anti-doping rule violation, for which the applicable sanction is two years’ ineligibility. The period of ineligibility could be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault of the athlete.

According to the WADA rules, athletes included in the Registered Testing Pool must provide their whereabouts for a certain period of the day and also update their address in case going outstation for training, work or for any other scheduled activities. They have to provide a full address for their overnight visits.

The whereabouts violation seems to have occurred between April and June as Seems was removed from the registered pool list for the third quarter of the year (July to September).

This is the second 'whereabouts violation' by an Indian wrestler reported by NADA, which had a few weeks back issued a notice to former World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat.