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.
