New Delhi: India’s Commonwealth Games campaign suffers another major blow as Olympian and 2022 Birmingham CWG silver medalist Tulika Maan Temporarily suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) over an alleged whereabouts failure, she will not be able to compete in the 2026 Glasgow Olympics even without flying out of India.Sources told TOI that Tulika, one of India’s top medal hopefuls in the women’s over-78kg judo category, has accumulated three whereabouts failures in the past 12 months, triggering a provisional ban under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules. She has been summoned by NADA and is scheduled to appear before the anti-doping agency on Thursday.A whereabouts failure is an anti-doping rule compliance issue that includes failed submissions and missed tests. Submission failures occur when an athlete fails to submit or update mandatory location information for out-of-competition testing, and missed tests are recorded when the Doping Control Official is unable to locate an athlete within the announced 60-minute testing window. Any combination of 3 failed submissions or missed tests within a 12-month period constitutes an anti-doping rule violation and is subject to standard sanctions of two years unless challenged successfully. Tulika’s temporary suspension is another blow to India’s CWG preparations. The Indian delegation has been reduced to 122 athletes and the heavyweight judoka will miss the Olympics after a temporary suspension. The Indian judo team is scheduled to leave for Glasgow on July 27, with the competition starting on July 31.The 27-year-old has been one of the leaders in Indian judo for the past decade. Tulika, who was raised by her mother, Delhi Police Sub-Inspector Amrita after losing her father at an early age, switched from football to judo at the age of eight and later rose through the ranks under coach Yashpal Solanki.Her breakthrough moment came at the 2022 CWG Birmingham, where she won the silver medal in the women’s over 78kg category, becoming the second Indian judoka to achieve this feat. She later overcame a serious knee injury to qualify for the Paris Olympics and represent India as India’s only judoka.The interim ban now casts a pall over the career of one of India’s most accomplished judokas, with the final outcome dependent on proceedings by the Judo Federation of India. If the verdict is upheld, Tulika could face a ban of up to two years, a major blow to her career and India’s future medal hopes.
