Ravi Kumar: Doping ban: No respite for shooter Ravi Kumar | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist, shooter Ravi Kumar’s hopes of making an early comeback to the competitive arena from his two-year doping ban has received a jolt after the appeal panel of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) dismissed the marksman’s plea to reduce his ineligibility period on compassionate grounds.
NADA’s Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) has rejected Ravi’s defence that he inadvertently consumed the banned drug propranolol — a beta blocker — for treating a bout of migraine and has upheld his suspension period, effective December 5, 2019, when he was originally sanctioned for his first-time doping offence.
Ravi’s ban period will continue till December 4, 2021.
Two panel hearings were held in Ravi’s matter on August 27 and 31, and the verdict was pronounced last week. He was tested during the Kumar Surendra Nath Memorial meet in May-June last year.
During this time, Ravi will miss the New Delhi World Cup in March (19 to 28) next year, which has been declared as decisive by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) for qualification to the Tokyo Olympics. Ravi will also miss the South Korea (Changwon), Azerbaijan (Baku), Egypt (Cairo) and Italy (Leonato) World Cups in 2021, beside other national and international meets.
It’s been learnt that Ravi’s legal team might knock on the doors of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to challenge the appeal panel’s decision. The lawyers believe that it was an inadvertent mistake on the shooter’s part and that he should be awarded the benefit of doubt. Also, the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) certificate was later provided to the authorities.
Ravi had appealed against NADA’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel’s (ADDP) decision to ban him after he had failed to convince the jury about the presence of propranolol in his body.