Decision on athlete who failed doping test to be known within two months - Adamas

KUALA LUMPUR - The Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas) expects the decision with regard to the athlete who failed a doping test at the Malaysia Athletics Federation (KOM) Track and Field Championships in February to be known within the next two months at the latest.

Adamas director Azura Abidin said this follows the hearing panel committee’s meeting with the athlete for the latter to present various arguments and evidence on Monday (Sept 11).

"The session was more of a hearing, we wanted to know what actually happened during and before the incident," she told reporters after the launch of the Piala Puteri Championship at the National Sports Council (MSN) in Bukit Jalil here today.

Azura said the members of the hearing panel committee would undoubtedly make the best of considerations based on anti-doping rules and past decisions.

In June, Adamas announced that a track and field athlete had failed the doping test conducted at the championships which took place at the MSN Mini Stadium.

Without revealing the athlete's details, Adamas confirmed that the results were positive for the use of the banned substance "sibutramine".

The athlete was then temporarily suspended from participating in any tournament until the outcome of the hearing process.

The media also reported that the athlete did not request for his ‘B sample’ to be tested and instead opted for a hearing process.

Adamas previously said the athlete could be handed a maximum suspension of two years if found guilty of con.

Meanwhile, Azura said Adamas was still waiting for the full results of the doping tests conducted on the 65 selected athletes who will participate in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

"We will do it in stages, in August we took (samples of) more than 20 athletes and Alhamdulillah the first phase of athletes all passed. Now we are still waiting for the results of the second phase and we are targeting (for it to be concluded) before Sept 23 because many will be heading there," she said.

Malaysia will be represented by 289 athletes competing in 121 out of 481 contested events at the Asian Games this time.

The Games postponed due to Covid-19, will take place from Sept 23 to Oct 8 this year. - BERNAMA