TOI Exclusive: Polo player Siddhant Sharma's exoneration within fortnight puts Nada in a spot

New Delhi: On Jan 1, 2026, the National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada) issued an updated list of athletes who were provisionally suspended for returning positive for banned substances, adding eight new names including professional polo player Siddhant Sharma, who was sanctioned after his urine sample collected during an in-competition test revealed traces of cocaine.

Sharma, in an inexplicable turn of events, was later let off without any punishment, and his provisional suspension was withdrawn by the country’s anti-doping watchdog, allowing him to return as a player and represent Jindal Panthers, owned and captained by industrialist and Member of Parliament (MP) Naveen Jindal, in competitions ahead.

An anti-doping disciplinary panel (ADDP) was immediately formed, and its meeting was convened to hear Sharma’s case and the charges of ingesting cocaine brought against him. It was learnt that Sharma waived his rights for ‘B’ sample testing.

Within one hearing, Sharma’s case was decided in his favour and his provisional suspension was lifted, relying solely on the ‘sworn-in affidavit’ submitted by the player that he took the contraband substance on Oct 14, 2025, during a Diwali party. Sharma was granted ‘conditional exoneration’ by the panel, pending a final hearing into the matter, which has not yet been scheduled. Sharma was allowed to compete in the 2025-2026 polo season, and he immediately joined back his team.

Nada issued his exoneration order on Jan 14, 2026, within a fortnight of the revelation of his doping offence. On Friday in Jaipur, Sharma, who is recognised for his “+4” handicap and plays as a back, appeared for the Jindal Bedla team against RPC/Thunderbolt in the Rajmata Gayatri Devi Memorial Cup, scoring five goals to take his side into the semifinals.

In doping cases in India, it sometimes takes months for a disciplinary panel to convene, depending upon the availability of members and, in some cases, years to decide an athlete’s case, whether he or she is guilty or not of prohibited substances.

As per the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) list, cocaine is classified as a prohibited stimulant, banned specifically “in-competition” due to its ability to enhance performance, increase heart rate, and blood flow. The ban period typically ranges from one to four years. A three-month ban applies if the athlete proves the use was out-of-competition and unrelated to performance. This could be reduced to one month if a substance abuse treatment plan is completed.

Even if Sharma successfully argued during the panel hearing that the cocaine ingested during the Diwali celebrations should be considered an ‘out-of-competition’ offence and not an ‘in-competition’ testing violation, when his urine sample was collected by dope officers after the match during the Baroda Cup on Oct 19, 2025, at the Jaipur Polo Grounds, Sharma should have, by Wada’s rules, at least faced a punishment period of three months before being allowed to play again.

When South Africa’s leading cricketer Kagiso Rabada was tested during the SA20 tournament on Jan 21, 2025, and was later provisionally suspended, it was revealed that the pace spearhead had consumed a metabolite of cocaine, benzoylecgonine. Rabada was subsequently banned for one month in June from all cricket competitions.

TOI tried to reach out to Nada Director General (DG) Anant Kumar and the agency’s dope-control officers for their comments, but none was available to speak on the issue.

Earlier this week, the Indian Polo Association (IPA) formed a three-member inquiry committee, headed by its executive committee member for the Delhi zone, Jai Shergill, to investigate the issue and submit its findings. On Friday, the committee held its first meeting here and offered its suggestions. “This is our (IPA’s) internal matter. We will investigate it internally. This is not something for public or media scrutiny,” Shergill told TOI.

Later, another member, on condition of anonymity, said that action has been recommended in this case. “The committee met today and had a detailed discussion. We have forwarded our recommendations to one of our vice presidents and our IPA’s eminent sportsperson Naveen Jindal for consideration. They will take the final action on this matter,” the member said.


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