Vinesh Phogat Withdraws From Ranking Series Event Citing 'food Poisoning'

World Championships: Two-time World Championships medalist wrestler Vinesh Phogat has reportedly pulled out of the Ranking Series tournament in Budapest late on Friday night, citing fever and food poisoning.

With her bouts in the 55kg weight class scheduled for Saturday, Vinesh pulled out of the Ranking Series tournament late on Friday night, citing fever and food poisoning, the Indian Express has reported. The decision was conveyed to the organisers as well as the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Earlier this week, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) had issued a notice to Vinesh for failure to comply with whereabouts requirements.

On June 27, a doping control officer (DCO) visited the address in Partap Colony, Sonipat, but Vinesh was not present at the location and could not be reached via phone. The DCO spent over 40 minutes trying to reach her and also called her husband Somvir Rathee but there was no response from his side as well, a report stated.

NADA's project officer Ankush Gupta has requested a response from Vinesh regarding her non-compliance with the ADR's whereabouts requirements.

Vinesh has 14 days to respond to this notice. However, Vinesh has little to worry about as this is the first time in 12 months that she has had a whereabouts failure, the report further said.

An Athlete in NADA’s Registered Testing Pool are required to provide the whereabouts information on a quarterly basis which includes: Home address, email address and phone number, an address for overnight accommodations, Competition schedules and locations and a 60-minute time slot for each day where they’ll be available and accessible for testing and liable for a potential 'missed test'.

Any combination of three Whereabouts Failures (filing failures and/or missed tests) within a 12-month period constitute an Anti-Doping Rule Violation under NADA Anti Doping Rules - Article 2.4, which may lead to imposition of sanction for up to 4 years.

Notably, IANS first reported about such an alert last week as renowned wrestling coach Ajit Singh suggested that NADA have to keep an eye on Vinesh and Bajarang while questioning their abroad training stint.

In an interview with IANS, former SAI coach Singh suggested that NADA should keep an eye on Vinesh and Bajrang Punia after the duo received a green signal from Sports Ministry to train abroad ahead of the Asian Games and world championships.