From ROMANUS UGWU, Abuja
MINISTER of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, has revealed that no fewer than five Team Nigeria athletes tested positive to banned substances at last year’s All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville.
The Minister who made the revelation yesterday when he received members of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Abuja, explained that the athletes failed the tests after World Anti Doping Agency, WADA took and tested their urine samples at the end of the Games. The minister fur- ther pointed out that while some tested positive at the AAG, about two tested positive at the last edition of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) organised championship in Warri, Delta State. Lamenting the development, the Minister regretted that five medals had been threatened from the total won at the AAG, stressing: “It is true that some Nigerian athletes tested position to banned substances at the last All Africa Games.
“About five medals have been indicted because of the development and that takes us to why we are meeting here with the NOC. We still want to intensify our advocacy on anti-doping. The issue of doping is not always as we say it.
“Sometimes it could be from the food the athlete has taken or some drugs they took without knowing the impli- cations before the event. So, what we are planning to do is to improve on our advocacy on anti doping,” he noted.
The athletes who have also been banned from taking part in any sporting activity for a period of four years include Deborah Odeyemi, Chinazo Amadi, Samson Idiata in athletics, Sunday Eze Para athletics and Thomas Kure in Powerlifting.