India is set to lose a Hangzhou Asian Games medal after bronze medallist boxer Parveen Hooda was suspended for 22 months for whereabouts failure. Parveen had won the bronze medal in the women’s 57kg weight class at the Asian Games last year, which had also fetched her a Paris Olympic quota. However, she was handed a suspension by the International Testing Agency (ITA), the agency responsible for results management, earlier this month after she failed thrice to file her whereabouts within a twelve-month period.
“The ITA confirms that boxer Parveen Hooda has been suspended for a 22-month period, effective until 16 July 2025, after committing three whereabouts failures within a twelve-month period as defined in article 2.4 of the International Boxing Association anti-doping rules (IBA ADR)1,” an ITA statement said.
“In addition to the period of ineligibility, the athlete’s results obtained between December 11, 2022 until May 17, 2024 are disqualified,” the statement added.
The 2022 Asian Games were delayed by a year due to COVID-19 in China and were held between September 23 to October 8 2023, which falls within the stipulated time period dictated by the ITA and thus Parveen will be stripped off the bronze medal she won.
This development means that India’s overall medal count at the 2023 Asian Games will decrease from 107 to 106. However, it will not impact the country’s fourth-place standing in the overall medal rankings.
In an unprecedented embarrassment for Indian boxing, the country was forced to surrender the women’s 57kg category Olympic quota. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine Lamboria will fight for 57kg quota in the final Olympic qualifier, starting in Bangkok on Friday.
In boxing, a quota is awarded to the country and not to the athlete.
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