World championship bronze medallist Parveen Hooda is at risk of losing her Paris Olympic quota after being suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. The suspension, which started this month, will last until November 2025, according to her coach Sudhir Hooda.
Parveen Hooda, who secured an Olympic quota in the women’s 57kg weight class during the Asian Games last year, failed to file her whereabouts between April 2022 and March 2023 as required by WADA regulations. “She has been suspended by WADA for 1.5 years. The suspension starts this month. It will go on till November 2025,” Sudhir Hooda told PTI.
Athletes in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) must provide detailed information on their whereabouts, including overnight locations, training venues, work addresses, and other regular activities. They must also specify a 60-minute window each day for potential testing. Failure to comply can result in a whereabouts failure, which under WADA rules, may lead to sanctions.
WADA’s rules state that any combination of three whereabouts failures (filing failures and/or missed tests) within 12 months constitutes an anti-doping rule violation, with a potential sanction of two years’ ineligibility, subject to reduction to a minimum of one year depending on the athlete’s degree of fault. Parveen Hooda’s lawyer, Vidushpat Singhania, is in discussions with the International Testing Agency (ITA) to seek a reduction or removal of the sanction.
“We have been in correspondence with multiple parties including the ITA and WADA ombudsman. We are trying our best for a no sanction or reduced one,” Vidushpat Singhania said. “We are trying for them to withdraw the notice for whereabouts failure. If that happens, there will be no sanction. We are looking to finalise it immediately because of the Olympic quota place,” he added.
However, even if the sanction is reduced to one year, Parveen Hooda will not be able to compete in the Paris Games scheduled for July-August this year. In October last year, it was revealed that Parveen had committed multiple whereabouts failures and had received a notice from the ITA, which oversees the anti-doping program for boxing at the Olympics.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) remains hopeful for a favorable outcome. Currently, 4 Indian boxers — Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg), and Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) — have secured quota places for the Olympics. In boxing, the quota is awarded to the athlete, not the country. The final Olympic qualifier is scheduled to begin on May 24 in Bangkok.
