India's anti-doping agency Wednesday revoked the suspension of veteran football goalkeeper Subrata Paul after the footballer proved he had taken a banned drug unintentionally. Paul, dubbed the "Indian Spiderman", was provisionally suspended after testing positive to banned drug terbutaline during a random test by the National Anti-Doping Authority (NADA) in March.
The World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits the use of terbutaline but Paul said that he had only taken cold and flu medication which may have contained the banned substance. "In this case the anti-doping rule violation involves a specified substance and the athlete was able to prove that the dope violation was not intentional," NADA said in a press statement.
"His suspension stands revoked with immediate effect." NADA said it had reprimanded Paul, who plays for the Indian league club DSK Shivajians, as well as the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for failing to provide proper guidance to its players.