An Indian wrestler was banned for four years for avoiding a dope test.

New Delhi: Indian Olympic medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia, who took part in headline-grabbing protests last year, has been banned for four years for evading a doping test.

Punia, 30, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, was provisionally suspended in March for refusing to provide a urine sample to National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials. According to a statement from NADA on Tuesday, Punia contested the charges and the suspension was initially lifted, but has since been banned.

Ponia maintained his innocence, saying he did not refuse the test but was wary of what he said was an expired kit that authorities brought to take his sample. He participated in a sit-in in New Delhi last year against the then head of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party.

Singh is being tried on charges of molesting female athletes and demanding sexual favors from them – allegations he denies. Punia alleged that the ban on testing was in retaliation for Singh’s protest. Punia, along with fellow protest wrestler and Olympian Vinesh Phogat, has since joined the opposition Congress Party.

The World Anti-Doping Agency says India recorded the world’s highest number of drug cheats in 2022 — the latest year for which data is available. India was the only country with more than 100 positive results, while countries that tested more athletes such as China, the US and Russia had fewer violations.