South Asian Games medal winners Mehboob, Naeem, Samiullah handed four-year ban for doping
Gold medal winners Olympian Mehboob Ali (400m hurdles), Hurdler Mohammad Naeem (110m hurdles) and bronze medallist Sprinter Samiullah (100m) have been handed a four-year ban by the National Olympic Committee in Nepal.
The 2010 doping scandal in which a number of national athletes tested positive for using performance-enhancing drugs had not yet been fully eradicated from the memory when the other day the country’s athletics was caught by another extensive doping scandal as three of our medal winners at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal tested positive for using steroids.
Gold medal winners Olympian Mehboob Ali (400m hurdles), Hurdler Mohammad Naeem (110m hurdles) and bronze medallist Sprinter Samiullah (100m) have been handed a four-year ban by the National Olympic Committee in Nepal after the trio were tested positive of anabolic androgenic steroids aimed at a rapid improvement in performance.
The decision that was communicated to all the concerned including Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) affirmed that all three have been stripped of their medals and are no longer eligible to pursue the career.
Chairman Anti-Doping Committee of the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal Dr Saroj Krishna Shrestha in a letter directed to athletes said that even the findings of B samples confirmed the presence of a prohibited substance that was there in A samples.
Testing positive in doping indicates the silver medalist of 110m hurdles Surendra Jayak will seize the gold and bronze medalist Roshan Dhamika of Sri Lanka will bag silver while fourth-placed Indian Maymon Poulose will be promoted for a bronze medal.
The 400m hurdles gold and silver will go to the Indian duo of Jabir Madari Pa and Santosh Kumar while Sri Lankan Asanka Indrajit will get the bronze medal. Mehboob Ali will be replaced by his compatriot Uzair Rehman for bronze in 100m sprint.
The ban intended table topper India will have a total haul of 176 gold medals while Pakistan, who finished four in the standings behind Nepal and Sri Lanka, will have 30 golds. The 13th sub-continental games were held for the third time in Nepal last year from December 1 to 10.
