Shuttler Krishna Prasad Garaga acquitted of doping charges | Badminton News – The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Men’s doubles player Krishna Prasad Garaga, who was part of the country’s gold-winning Thomas Cup campaign in 2022, will don the India jersey again after the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) appeal panel lifted his four-year ban with immediate effect after acquitting him of drug-related charges.The 25-year-old from Kakinada of Andhra Pradesh was allowed to return to the competitive arena with effect from January 18, 2026, following the anti-doping panel’s decision to set aside his period of ineligibility, which was imposed on November 6, 2024. Garaga, incidentally, was the men’s doubles champion at the 2019 South Asian Games.

Garaga’s lawyers argued that Nada failed to comply with mandatory procedural safeguards, which stated that under Wada’s technical rules, an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for HCG in a male athlete must trigger a comprehensive clinical examination to rule out pathological causes. The lawyers argued that “exogenous administration is pharmacokinetically impossible, as injected HCG would have cleared the system within days.”Nada’s legal team argued that under the principle of strict liability, the burden of proof shifts to the athlete. However, the appeal panel in its ruling stated: “The panel finds that the scientific and biochemical evidence on record does not demonstrate, to the requisite standard of comfortable satisfaction, that the HCG detected in the athlete’s sample was derived from exogenous administration. Accordingly, the athlete is acquitted.””Nada officers called for a cross-examinationIn another development, a separate appeal panel has ordered cross-examination of Nada’s dope control officer Pawan Kumar and handlers Kirti and Mukul in the case of Olympic medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia.The case concerned Punia’s refusal to provide his urine sample during the national selection trials on March 10, 2024, following disputes over testing protocols.On November 26, 2024, he was suspended for four years by the Nada disciplinary committee.