Odisha Shuttler Pramod Bhagat To Miss Paris Paralympic, Faces 18-Month Suspension

New Delhi: India’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat, who hails from Odisha’s Bargarh district, will miss Paris 2024 Paralympic Games following his 18 months suspension.

He has been found guilty of breaching the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) anti-doping regulations.

“ Indian Para-badminton Tokyo2020 gold medallist Pramod Bhagat suspended for 18 months for breaching BWF anti-doping regulations with three whereabouts failures within 12 months,” BWF wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

According to the federation, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) Anti-Doping Division on March 1 found Bhagat in breach of the BWF anti-doping regulations for committing three whereabouts failures within 12 months.

“Bhagat, an SL3 athlete, appealed this decision to the CAS Appeals Division. On 29 July 2024, the CAS Appeals Division dismissed the Bhagat’s appeal and confirmed the CAS Anti-Doping Division decision of 1 March 2024,” a statement from BWF read.

Now, Manoj Sarkar and Nitesh Kumar will represent India in men’s singles SL3 category. Bhagat had earlier defeated Daniel Bethell of Great Britain to clinch a gold in the SL3 category at Tokyo Paralympics.

The 35-year-old Bhagat also has a men’s doubles gold medal to his name at the global championships from the 2013 campaign.

Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be held from from August 28 to September 8.