Kathmandu, September 24:

Good Health Medical Services Pvt Ltd, Nepal’s authorised agent of the SRL Ranbaxy of Mumbai, has come forward to help Rajendra Bhandari, who tested positive for banned drugs after winning double gold medals at the last month’s 10th South Asian Games.

“We are ready to help Rajendra Bhandari if the authorities seek our cooperation in clearing Rajendra Bhandari from the doping scandle,” said Chandrasen Sharma, managing director at Good Health Medical Services Pvt Ltd. “We don’t claim to be the best, but we can give a try for the sake of an athlete and country’s pride,” he said.

SRL Ranbaxy is the same company that challenged the analysis report of Indian athlete Sunita Rani — who tested positive after winning gold in 1,500m and bronze in 5,000m at the 14th Asian Games in Busan.

After the challenge from Ranbaxy, International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent both the reports to United States of America for verification and the previous test reports — carried out by a South Korean laboratory — proved to be false and Rani got her medals back. “In Sunita Rani’s case, the Korean company’s licence was cancelled,” claimed Sharma.

According to Jitendra Pandey, representative of SRL Ranbaxy in Kathmandu, the company has been collecting samples from 54 countries including the United Kingdom. “We are not challenging any one but we are the largest pathological lab in South Asia and South East Asia at present,” said Pandey.

“We resolved Sunita Rani’s case in four months and now we want to help a Nepali athlete. Most important is Rajendra Bhandari. If he says that he has not used any banned drug, we will take over the case and fight against any international body to save him,” he said. “We are ready to go to any extreme to save an innocent athlete. We can prove it if Rajendra Bhandari has not used banned drugs,” he said.

“I read in papers that the Malaysian laboratory had used nine methods to analyse Rajendra’s sample, but we have got 95 methods to examine a sample,” said Sharma. “If we find any conflict in the analysis, our company will take all the responsibilities to fight against it,” claimed Sharma, who has been working as the Ranbaxy’s agent since the last two years.

Meanwhile, Good Health Medical Services Pvt Ltd sent a letter to National Sports Council asking the favour to provide the opportunity to look into Rajendra’s matter. NSC member secretary Jeewan Ram Shrestha was positive towards the letter, but said that he would decide about the issue only after studying the report submitted by the invetigation committee formed to probe Rajendra Bhandari’s involvement in the drug scandle.

“We are hoping to get the initial reports today, and we will decide our further plans and programmes tomorrow,” he told reporters. Rajendra, who was summoned by the investigation committee on Saturday, has outrightly rejected of using the banned drugs. “Once the committee submits its report, we will consult with the Nepal Olympic Committee and decide what to do next,” said Shrestha.

Shrestha also said that the council was neutral in Rajendra Bhandari’s case. “We are neither in his favour, nor against him. We are acting neutrally as we have been waiting for the investigation committee’s reports,” he said.