Mumbai tennis player on how he battled stigma post doping charges

Aryaan Bhatia

Tennis player Aryaan Bhatia's Linking Road home has more trophies than their 2BHK can accommodate. They are lined up on bookshelves, above almirahs, and inside the minibar, with a few sitting on the floor. "Guests who did not know about Aryaan and my elder son Armaan's tennis history would ask us if we made a business selling trophies," laughs mother Zeenat, a French teacher. "We had to clarify that they were hard-earned." The Bhatias confess that they have been running out of space to store them, but it was always a nice problem to have.

Until five months ago, when the family nearly lost their bragging rights, credibility and peace of mind. In February, 16-year-old Aryaan became the first Indian tennis player to fail a dope test. He was put under provisional suspension by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). After months of turmoil and "an agonisingly long wait", he finally got a reprieve from the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, when he was cleared of all charges last Friday. He now gets to keep his Khelo India silver medal and resume competitive tennis. That morning, the first thing the family did on receiving the news was hug each other. "We cried, but these were tears of relief, because these six months were hard," she says. Because life, as they knew it, was over.

The Bhatias

At the time, Bhatia had tested positive for prednisone, prednisolone and 20-b-OH-prednisolone, which, under NADA's prohibited list, is a specified substance. It was prescribed by the family physician for "acute laryngitis and pharyngitis". The results came to the fore when his urine sample was taken during the Fenesta Open championship in Delhi last October. Although he completed the dosage while in Mumbai, its effect remained for 72 hours, as they were to learn. Neither the doctor nor the family was aware that the boy had inadvertently swallowed 1.5 per cent of the banned substance. Incidentally, the drug is not considered a substance off the tennis court. "While filling the doping form, which players are supposed to do, I had mentioned that I was under antibiotics. But, who would have thought that a Rs 12 tablet would cost me my career?" says Aryaan, a commerce student from Bandra's Rizvi College. "To be honest, I didn't even know what doping involved. My understanding was it meant either snorting cocaine or something people inject during bodybuilding." Understandably, he has never gone back to the doctor again.

In fact, a large part of the last five months has been spent indoors, except when the brothers would go to Andheri to practise at the Practennis court. During tennis sessions, the Bhatias had to battle taunts and snide remarks. It wasn't uncommon for peers to ask brother Armaan, "Tere bhai ne kya kand kiya" or "No wonder, he was performing so well". Their father Ajay, who runs a travel agency, says, "Even the neighbourhood barber enquired about the incident when I went for a haircut. How many people could you silence?" To compound this, the news was all over the Internet.

"I understand that they were simply doing their job," says Aryaan. "Funnily, nobody had written about me when I won the silver medal, but now my picture from the tournament was splashing with this news." Despite this, the family pushed him to take it on as yet another challenge. After all, he was innocent. "It came to a point where we couldn't mollycoddle him anymore," says Zeenat. "He had to go out and face the world. We had faith in the system. It was only a matter of time." They hired Vidushpat Singhania, the best lawyer they could find to fight the case. Even Leander Paes, Zeenat's close friend, would call often to counsel the family.

On his part, Aryaan, continued remaining hopeful. "The first thing I would ask my father before sleeping was if he received any news." Until they did, one fine morning. The incident, he says, has helped put the spotlight on doping. "The other day, a friend from a Bengaluru sporting institute called to say that, 'Bro, because of you, we now have a session on drug and doping.'"

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