Meeting with accused doping trio of Mehboob Ali, Mohammad Naeem and Samiullah delayed
Saturday's meeting between the Athletics Federation of Pakistan’s (AFP) inquiry committee and the three accused athletes was deferred on the advice of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).
Saturday's meeting between the Athletics Federation of Pakistan’s (AFP) inquiry committee and the three accused athletes was deferred on the advice of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).
The meeting was deferred on the advice of the Olympic association for reasons unknown. The decision regarding the fate of the three athletes has yet to come.
Athletes Mehboob Ali, Mohammad Naeem and Samiullah, who won medals at the South Asian Games 2019, had tested positive for using steroids The News reported. But they have denied using performance-enhancing drugs despite their dope test results being positive.
Their tests had been conducted during the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal last year where Mehboob and Naeem won golds and Samiullah clinched bronze.
The trio maintained that they did not commit the ill practice and in turn insisted to opt for a B-sample in order to confirm the results.
The athletes will now face punishment as per the World Anti-Doping Agency's rules.
Earlier, a source within the athletics federation revealed that three anonymous athletes were confirmed to have been using banned substances.
They were also part of the two relay bronze medal-winning teams. The athletes have already submitted their replies to the federation. If found guilty they would be banned, stripped of their medals and cash prizes.
Mehboob bagged a gold medal in men’s 400m hurdles while Naeem and Samiullah each won a bronze medal.
Pakistan also won two bronze medals in the relay category and may risk losing a total of five medals over the trio's actions.
The SAG 2019 were held in Kathmandu between Dec 1 and 10 and Pakistani athletes had won 32 gold, 41 silver and 59 bronze medals at the event.
With 31 gold, the national contingent had finished fourth on the medal table behind leaders India (174), hosts Nepal (51) and Sri Lanka (40).
