Narsingh Yadav: Staying in the fight

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
—Victor Hugo, French novelist

Narsingh Pancham Yadav has hit the proverbial rock bottom in his wrestling career. But he is not giving up. Instead, he is trying to climb his way back on to the mat.

Why else would he still put on his training attire every single day? Why else would he still sweat it out in the constant need to improve himself on the mat? Why else would he still have the burning desire to represent India?

Barely 12 hours before the Mumbai-based wrestler was to kick-start his dream of winning a medal for the country at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Yadav was kicked out of the Games Village. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) handed him a four-year ban for doping, after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) challenged the clean chit given to the Indian by the country’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Yadav cried foul on testing positive for methandienone on two occasions: June 25 and July 5. His participation in Games was paused, but NADA found credence in his sabotage claims. Relieved, the Yadav boarded the flight to Rio at the last minute, strapping into play mode again. WADA and CAS, however, were in no mood to watch the show.

Yadav’s life over the last couple of years has been much like those buttons on a music player. Sometimes play, sometimes pause. Sometimes rewind, sometimes fast forward. There’s hope, shame, hope, and shame again.
But Yadav isn’t ready to allow that cycle to end in shame. He’s giving hope one last shot.

“I’m training continuously ever since I came back from Rio,” Yadav tells dna after one of his gruelling morning sessions. “I’m hoping that everything will be cleared soon and I will be back on the mat.”

Fighting on

Those words are quite optimistic for a man who has been dragged into the mud by what he claims are his colleagues. A four-year ban can end careers of most athletes, especially if it comes at a time when you’re at the peak of your sporting prowess at the age of 27. An enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is Yadav’s last lifeline, and even that wouldn’t necessarily mean a red carpet re-entry into international wrestling.

It would have been very easy for Yadav to lose faith, to quit wrestling, to stop dreaming. But Yadav wants to take the tougher route.

“I have never thought of quitting even after all this. Wrestling se mein bahut pyaar karta hu (I love wrestling). I can never think of quitting at this stage,” he says.

Yadav is banking on the belief of his fans, as well as his own, to take him through this battle.

“Look, everyone knows what has happened to me. The public is with me, fans are with me. People still call me, meet me and say, ‘whatever happened to you is wrong’. So, that belief of the people, their faith keeps me going.

That is my biggest motivation to keep fighting,” Yadav says.

But is that fight worth it?

“I have been labelled a dope,” Yadav is quick to cut in. “That daag (blot) should be cleared. Everyone should know the truth, that I did not dope intentionally. I have been saying right from the beginning that I’m innocent, that I have been framed, that some people did not want to see me fighting for my country at the Rio Olympics.

“And they have been successful. I want to bring that out. I want people to know the real picture, ki kuch ghatiya logo ki wajeh se kya hua hai (what has happened because of some cheap people,” he adds.

Attitude matters

Yadav says his daily routine is same as what it used to be when he was preparing for the Olympics. Train, rest, train, rest. There are no distractions in between, no thoughts of ‘what if?’

For all the things going on in Yadav’s life, it’s a surprisingly clutter-free mind. Renowned sports psychologist BP Bam isn’t taken aback, though.

“Such athletes tend to love the sport more than themselves,” Bam says. “For Narsingh, there is no alternative other than wrestling. He is still young. Thus, he can take this in his stride. He knows he has no control over it, and that he has been punished, even if he took the drug unintentionally.”

Bam, who has worked with Indian sporting greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Pullela Gopichand to name a few, says the attitude of an athlete matters the most in such testing times.

“There have been players who have gone to jail and made a comeback into sport. There have been athletes who have been on a wheelchair for months due to injuries and made a return with the same level of fitness and enthusiasm. So, it’s all about your attitude when you’re down. You can stay connected to the sport while you’re out of it by some way or the other,” he says.

Academy plans

That’s exactly what Yadav is doing. The Mumbaikar is eager to open an academy in the city for budding wrestlers, and has met state sports minister Vinod Tawde, requesting a small piece of land in Mumbai for the same.

“Even if the government gives me a small piece of land, I will convert it into an excellent training centre. I will pick up wrestlers from all over the state, and groom them to become champions.

“I will motivate more kids to take up wrestling. I want to see those kids win medals for India in wrestling in the 2028 or 2032 Olympics, and even world championships,” he says, but adds: “I will also train alongside them at the same time.”

Still positive

The youngsters who are currently training with their beloved ‘Narsingh bhaiyya’ at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Kandivli say there is little change in the behaviour of their idol.

“After he came back from Rio, we all thought Narsingh bhaiyya will be a changed man. But he is the same. He still motivates us to put in our maximum in each training session, and talks to us frequently about what we need to do to improve ourselves,” said a young wrestler from the centre, requesting anonymity.

Yadav maintains his failed dope test was a conspiracy of his rivals by spiking his food during his stay at the SAI centre in Sonepat. He believes that if such things keep happening to athletes in India, not many parents will be keen to back their children to take up sport as a professional career. 

And yet, he wants kids to become Olympians. Why?

“It’s simple. Sport is one of the few platforms where you get to represent your country, fight for your country. It feels nice when you do that. That’s what I want to tell those kids. When you play for your country, win medals for your country and see the India flag going up, that emotion is something that cannot be matched. I tell the kids, ‘paise toh saari duniya kamati hai, par naam bahut kam log kama lete hai (A lot of people make money, but few make a name for themselves). I cherish being a sportsmen, a wrestler and fighting for my country,” Yadav says.

Sure of a medal

Yadav’s own endeavour to do that was shattered in Rio. Despite the doping saga and his ugly court battle with senior wrestler Sushil Kumar on who should represent India at the Games in the 74kg weight category, Yadav says he would’ve come back with a medal had he entered the mat.

“The guys who won the medal at the Olympics, I had beaten them,” Yadav says. “So if I was there, I would’ve won a medal for India. It would’ve been a proud moment for our country. So whoever has done this, I want to tell them: You haven’t done wrong to Narsingh Yadav, you have done wrong to the entire country.

“Despite all the controversies, I had trained perfectly for the Olympics. People were desperate for a medal back home since no one had won before Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu towards the end. I knew I would break that jinx,” he adds.

Dreams over? Not yet

The brief flashback done, Yadav wants to look ahead again. He says he will go right till the end to get his name cleared from this, despite his near and dear ones not being too keen on it.

“My family was very sad once I came back from Rio. They didn’t want me to push this further, but I knew that I had to fight. I knew that I am innocent. So I told them that I will fight this out,” he says.

Irrespective of whether his ban is overturned or not, Yadav has set a new goal for himself.

“I want to win a medal for India at 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I just hope all this gets over very soon, and I’m back on the mat, back fighting for my country,” Yadav says.

For now, though, he is fighting for himself.