Indian badminton player Krishna Prasad Garaga has been fully exonerated after the Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (ADAP) set aside the four-year ban imposed on him by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), restoring his competitive results, rankings and eligibility. In a detailed judgment dated January 18, 2026, the ADAP overturned the earlier order of the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, which had found Garaga guilty of violating the National Anti-Doping Rules, 2021, and imposed the maximum sanction of four years’ ineligibility. The appeal panel concluded that the evidence did not establish, to the required standard, that the prohibited substance detected in Garaga’s sample originated from doping. The case stemmed from an out-of-competition test conducted in February 2024, in which low levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were detected. While NADA maintained that the finding amounted to an anti-doping rule violation under the principle of strict liability, Garaga argued that the hormone levels were endogenous and unrelated to any performance-enhancing substance use. The ADAP accepted the athlete’s defence, placing significant reliance on expert medical opinions and biochemical data. The panel …