Reuters
Beijing, August 25: Kenyan athletes Koki Manunga and Joyce Zakary have been handed provisional bans after failing doping tests at the world championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said Wednesday.
The runners were targeted in pre-competition tests at their team hotel here August 20 and 21, the IAAF said in a statement.
The East African nation’s sports body Athletics Kenya, which has been criticised by some of its own athletes for not taking the issue of doping seriously enough, said it had been told about the failed tests and had launched an
investigation.
“Appropriate follow-up action will be taken in Kenya,” it said in a statement, adding that the two athletes had accepted their provisional suspensions.
“Athletics Kenya will provide full support and cooperation to the IAAF during the results management process,” it said.
The IAAF has spent the last month defending itself against accusations that it is soft on doping after data from thousands of blood samples were leaked to the media.
While critics of the IAAF might point to the positive tests as further evidence of widespread doping in the sport, the governing body is likely to see this as proof that their targeted testing is effective in weeding out drug cheats.