After receiving a clean chit from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) over doping charges against him, Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav was assured by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday that he would never face injustice again and wished him all the best for the upcoming Rio Olympics.
Narsingh, who met the Prime Minister here today, thanked the latter for helping him in getting justice in the doping scandal.
"He (Prime Minister Modi) gave me his blessings and assured me that I will never become a victim of injustice again. He asked me to keep working hard and win medals for the nation," Yadav told the media here after the meeting.
When asked if he was going to Rio for sure, Yadav replied, "Yes I will go to Rio and win medals for India. I just want to forget the controversies and focus on my training."
Prime Minister Modi had in his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme last Sunday extend his best wishes to the Indian contingent, who would be representing India at the Rio Olympics next month, and urged the nation to encourage them.
Expressing optimism, Prime Minister Modi said that the Indian athletes would win the hearts of the world in the Rio Games.
He also asserted that sports cannot be evaluated in loss or win, adding the players fight for the pride of the nation which is the biggest challenge.
Ending weeks of suspense over Narsingh's Rio Olympics participation, the NADA yesterday cleared the wrestler from the charges of violating anti-doping rules while pointing that he was a victim of sabotage perpetrated by a competitor.
"I am grateful to Narendra Modi for helping me get justice. I was always hopeful of getting justice and that is why I continued to train hard. I want to go to Rio and win a medal. I want to thank the public and media and everyone else who supported me and stood by the truth," he told the media after the NADA ruling.
Narsingh thanked the WFI chief for supporting him in his dreadful period and said that it was because of his backing that he continued his practice till now.
The order will now be sent to the United World Wrestling (UWW) so as to get approval for Narsingh's participation in the Rio Games.
The 26-year-old grappler, who bagged the quota with a bronze medal finish in last year's World Championships, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid on both his 'A' and 'B' samples. He was placed under provisionally suspension since then.
Narsingh was selected for the Rio Olympics in controversial circumstances as two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had demanded for trials to determine who should go to the games. However, Narsingh was favoured for the same after fighting a lengthy legal battle with Sushil.
