Two-year ban for seven athletes
The seven local athletes who failed a dope test now face a two year ban from all national and international events.
KARACHI:
The seven local athletes who failed a dope test now face a two year ban from all national and international events, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Syed Arif Hasan confirmed this following the anti-doping committee meeting.
“Seven dope-tainted athletes appeared before the committee but failed to justify the presence of banned substances and therefore we have no option but to ban them for two years.” Said the Pakistan Sports Board anti-doping committee head Khawaja Farooq Saeed. “We gave every athlete time to explain but according to them they had been using food supplements s routine.”
The POA had suspended eight athletes that included Nadia Nazir, Rozina Shafqat and Shagufta Nuareen, Zara Razzaq, Olympian Sumaira Zahoor, Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Imran and Asif Javaid, when they failed their dope test earlier this month. While seven of the named met their fate in the meeting, Zahoor remained the only unpunished athlete from the group since she skipped the hearing due to medical reasons. A decision on her future will be taken in the coming week, according to the POA.
“Players from every discipline underwent a dope test for the Commonwealth Games,” Hasan told The Express Tribune. “It is disappointing that it’s just athletics in which 10 out of 15 participants failed it.”
He added that since these tests were taken after the National Championship, it could also explain how those athletes managed to win medals but the POA will ensure that the ban would serve as an example to other athletes. The POA had also handed out two year bans to sprinters Sadaf Siddiqi and Javeria Hassan in June after a report from the anti-doping disciplinary committee.
According to Dr Waqar Ahmed, Chairman of the Anti-Dope Organisation of Pakistan and a hearing committee member, the test reports have detected anabolic androgen steroids in the samples of all the eight athletes.
The athletes have 14 days to provide any new evidence and appeal against the decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2010.
The seven local athletes who failed a dope test now face a two year ban from all national and international events, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Syed Arif Hasan confirmed this following the anti-doping committee meeting.
“Seven dope-tainted athletes appeared before the committee but failed to justify the presence of banned substances and therefore we have no option but to ban them for two years.” Said the Pakistan Sports Board anti-doping committee head Khawaja Farooq Saeed. “We gave every athlete time to explain but according to them they had been using food supplements s routine.”
The POA had suspended eight athletes that included Nadia Nazir, Rozina Shafqat and Shagufta Nuareen, Zara Razzaq, Olympian Sumaira Zahoor, Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Imran and Asif Javaid, when they failed their dope test earlier this month. While seven of the named met their fate in the meeting, Zahoor remained the only unpunished athlete from the group since she skipped the hearing due to medical reasons. A decision on her future will be taken in the coming week, according to the POA.
“Players from every discipline underwent a dope test for the Commonwealth Games,” Hasan told The Express Tribune. “It is disappointing that it’s just athletics in which 10 out of 15 participants failed it.”
He added that since these tests were taken after the National Championship, it could also explain how those athletes managed to win medals but the POA will ensure that the ban would serve as an example to other athletes. The POA had also handed out two year bans to sprinters Sadaf Siddiqi and Javeria Hassan in June after a report from the anti-doping disciplinary committee.
According to Dr Waqar Ahmed, Chairman of the Anti-Dope Organisation of Pakistan and a hearing committee member, the test reports have detected anabolic androgen steroids in the samples of all the eight athletes.
The athletes have 14 days to provide any new evidence and appeal against the decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2010.