Boxing star Vijender is ordered to take drug test

Agencies/Chandigarh

India’s boxing pin-up boy Vijender Singh was ordered by the sports ministry yesterday to take an immediate out-of-competition test after police said he had used heroin on several occasions.

Singh, whose middleweight bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics helped raise boxing’s profile in India, landed in trouble after last month’s $24mn drug haul in the northern state Punjab when fellow boxer Ram Singh told the investigators he and Vijender consumed heroin supplied by the drug dealer.

Singh has denied the allegation but Punjab police on Sunday said the 27-year-old boxer had taken heroin on 12 occasions, prompting the sports ministry to ask the National Anti-Doping Agency to carry out a test on him.

“Such reports in respect of a sporting icon are disturbing and may have a debilitating influence on other sportspersons in the country,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It has, therefore, been considered necessary that NADA gets a test carried out on Vijender Singh for his reported use of heroin even out-of-competition.”

The Punjab police earlier said investigations showed both Vijender and Ram Singh procured the drug from the alleged dealer between December and February.

“Vijender Singh consumed the drug about 12 times and Ram Singh about five times,” the police said in a statement which did not specify how they had reached this conclusion.

“However, they did not actively connive with the smugglers in their activities and nothing was recovered from them - as such both of them are not being arrested in the case at this stage.”

The police said Vijender, himself a police officer in the neighbouring state of Haryana, had declined to provide hair and blood samples for testing last month.

Vijender, who became a household name in India after winning the Olympic medal, has strongly denied any link to the drug dealer and has slammed as “ridiculous” the allegations against him.

The high-profile sportsman has not been seen in public for the past few weeks and has not issued any statement on the latest police allegations.

Police seized 26kg of heroin with a street value of Rs1.3bn ($24mn) in March in Punjab. The alleged dealer was arrested along with five others.

Vijender was linked to the haul after a car belonging to his wife was found outside the residence of the alleged dealer near Chandigarh.

NADA officials earlier said Vijender was unlikely to be penalised since any drug use was done out of competition.

“Heroin is a banned drug, but an athlete can be punished only if he tests positive in ‘in-competition’ testing,” NADA director-general Mukul Chatterjee told reporters.

“Vijender is not training for any competition these days, so he cannot be penalised.”

Vijender failed to win a medal at the London Olympics last year after he was defeated in the quarter-finals.

His contemporaries and juniors said the boxer’s alleged involvement in drugs will hit his ‘iconic’ image and hamper the growth of boxing in the country.

Vijender has been the face of Indian boxing.

“He was a role model for some of the boxers. If the drug reports are true, it is bound to have a negative impact on the current and future boxers. It is going to have a bearing on India’s image in the boxing world as well,” 2010 Asian Games gold medallist boxer Vikas Krishan said.

Krishan hails from Vijender’s hometown Bhiwani in Haryana.

Akhil Kumar, best known for his gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, feels that Vijender ceases to be a role model after being involved in drug use.

“It is unfortunate. But this is what happens when you can’t handle sudden fame and fortune. Only the mighty rich can indulge in all these pleasures,” Kumar, whose career-path went downhill as Vijender attained stardom, said.

“A sportsperson is supposed to carry himself with dignity all his life. If he is caught doing something wrong, he ceases to be a role model,” he added.

Despite the police’s revelations, India Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) is reluctant to comment on the issue.

“We take the police’s claims seriously but it is still not the final word. We would like to make a comment once everything comes out in black and white. I will soon be talking to Vijender and ask him what is going on in his mind,” IABF president Abhishek Matoria said.

There have been a number of major drug seizures in Punjab in recent years. A Punjab University study in 2011 suggested that up to 70% of the state’s youth were addicted to drugs or alcohol.