Four Uzbekistan Para athletes suspended

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended four athletes from Uzbekistan - three powerlifters and one track and field athlete – each for four-year periods for separate anti-doping violations committed during a six-month period.

Powerlifters Ismira Islomova and Shakhzoda Mamadalieva both committed anti-doping violations after competing at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships which took place in Berck-Sur-Mer, France, in May 2018.

Islomova, who competed in the women’s up to 79kg class, returned an adverse analytical finding for methasterone metabolite 2α,17α-dimethyl-5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol, while Mamadalieva, a competitor in the women’s up to 45kg  class, provided a urine sample that included methyl-1-testosterone metabolite 17α-methyl-5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol.  Both these substances are included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List under S1. Anabolic Agents Exogenous AAS.

Both athletes will be ineligible from competition from 31 August 2018 to 30 August 2022 and both will have their results from May 2018 onwards disqualified including forfeiture of any medals, points, records and prizes.  This includes Mamadalieva’s junior gold medal she won at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships.

A third powerlifter Muslima Nuriddinova will also serve a four-year suspension after she returned an adverse analytical finding for methylstenbolone after competing on 9 September at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.  This substance is included on the WADA Prohibited List under S1.1A Exogenous AAS.

Nuriddinova will be suspended from 30 November 2018 to 29 November 2022. She has also been stripped of the junior gold medal she won at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships, as well as the junior Asian record she set at the event.

The final Uzbekistani athlete to receive a four-year suspension is Kamolakhon Abdullaeva. She returned an adverse analytical finding for methasterone and its metabolite 2A,17A-dimethyl-5A-androstane-3A,17B-diol in a urine sample after competing in the long jump T45/46/47 at October 2018’s Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.  This substance was included on the WADA Prohibited List under S1.1A Exogenous AAS.

Abdullaeva will be ineligible from competition from 11 February 2019 to 10 February 2023 and stripped of any medals, points, records and prizes from October 2018 onwards.

James Sclater, the IPC’s Anti-Doping Director, said: “We are very alarmed and greatly concerned with the number of cases in Uzbekistan. The IPC immediately took action with an enhanced testing programme when it became apparent that four athletes – one of whom was a minor at a time of the violation – tested positive for Anabolic Androgenic Steroids within a six-month period. An investigation into the doping practices will continue and further action may be taken to ensure that athletes compete on a level playing field.”

The IPC would like to remind all athletes the principle of strict liability applies to anti-doping matters. Therefore, each athlete is strictly liable for the substances found in his or her sample, and that an anti-doping rule violation occurs whenever a prohibited substance (or its metabolites or markers) is found in his or her bodily specimen, whether or not the athlete intentionally or unintentionally used a prohibited substance or was negligent or otherwise at fault.

As a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), the IPC remains committed to a doping-free sporting environment at all levels. The IPC, together with the International Federations and the National Paralympic Committees, established the IPC Anti-Doping Code to prevent doping in sport for Paralympic athletes, in the spirit of fair play. The IPC Anti-Doping Code is in conformity with the general principles of the WADC.