Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav continued to protest his innocence on Monday (25th July) after testing positive for banned steroids, blaming a conspiracy by his rivals to stop him participating in the Rio Olympics.

'"Whatever has been done is like a pre-planned conspiracy because I have been competing for many years at an international level, and there is no chance that I could taken drugs, because there are dope tests every time and I understand what doping is about. With the Olympics now so close, and with me performing very well, why would I take drugs? My roommate's (fellow wrestler Sandeep Yadav) dope test also came out positive, so it seems that someone has deliberately mixed something into our food or food supplements. Someone has tampered with it. There should be a high level enquiry and those behind it must be punished and I should be be allowed to go to Rio."

"Earlier (this month) on the 5th (of July) there was a similar incident. Someone had mixed something into the food but we saw it and threw it away. Here (at the training camp), food is lying in the open. Anything can happen because the sportsmen are busy training. Food and water lie unattended all day and anything can happen. Whoever has done this has done so in a pre-planned manner and this should be investigated."