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NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan sprinter Boniface Mweresa has failed a doping test and been dropped from the team for the African Championships which starts in Asaba, Nigeria on Wednesday, a senior official of the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) has told Reuters.
Samples from Mweresa, who won silver in the 400m and gold in the 4x400m at the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, were taken to the June 6-8 Kenya Defense Forces Championships in Nairobi and contained a banned substance, the official said Tuesday.
The Kenyan delegation traveled to Asaba on Monday with Mweresa, who was a member of the team at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships in Moscow and London respectively and at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Gold Coast.
Mweresa, 24, could not immediately be reached by Reuters but the athlete told local media he was innocent and had adopted ADAK.
"Declaring that it took us to find the ingredients in our samples," the ADAK official, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.
Mweresa, who would have been a medal prospect at the African Championships in the Delta State of Asaba, told local media he would challenge the decision at the Kenyan Sports Tribunal.
Senior Athletes from the Country's Governing Body, traveled to Asaba for the African Championships and could not be reached for comment.
Kenya is renowned for its long-distance running and has failed in the past six years.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent global body that manages all doping-related matters, said that Kenyan-born Olympic steeplechase champion and world record holder Ruth Jebet, who runs for Bahrain, is being investigated after returning a positive test for the EPO booster blood.
The AIU also confirmed in May that Kenya's Olympic form and three-time world champion 1,500m, Asbel Kiprop, had failed a test for EPO. Kiprop has been denied and will be heard at an AIU court being held in London next month.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said on Friday that it has approved the obligations of its members in the fight against doping.
Athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, Belarus and Ukraine will be tested three times in the 10 months prior to world championships and Olympics. They are in the category of a member who has been "member of the major at risk of doping."
Previously, the obligations under the anti-doping code were primarily in favor of members rather than member federations.
The AIU recommended the new regulations to the IAAF as a crucial step in protecting the integrity of sport.
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