Rio de Janeiro: It was heartbreak for Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav as he was slapped with a four-year ban for flunking a dope test after Court of Arbitration for Sports overturned the clean chit given to him by the National Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had appealed against the NADA panel’s decision at CAS just three days ahead of his scheduled opening bout at the Olympics.

“…the parties were informed that the application was upheld, that Narsingh Yadav was sanctioned with a four-year ineligibility period starting today and that any period of provisional suspension or ineligibility effectively served by the athlete before the entry into force of this award shall be credited against the total period of ineligibility to be served,” CAS said in a statement after the hearing.

“Furthermore, all competitive results obtained by Narsingh Yadav from and including 25 June 2016 shall be disqualified, with all resulting consequences (including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes). The CAS Panel did not accept the argument of the athlete that he was the victim of sabotage and noted that there was no evidence that he bore no fault, nor that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. Therefore the standard 4-year period of ineligibility was imposed by the Panel,” it added.

Meanwhile, Narsingh Yadav in a statement said, “To say I am devastated at the decision of CAS would be putting it mildly. I have gone through so much over the last two months off the mat but the thought of fighting for the glory of the nation at the Games had kept me going. My dream of competing and winning the country a medal at the Rio Games has been cruelly snatched away from me twelve hours before my first bout, but I will do everything it takes to prove my innocence. It is all I have left to fight for.”