File image by Mohammad Samim Faizad© X (Twitter)
Mohammad Samim Faizad, one of six Afghans at the Paris Olympics, denied intentionally doping on Saturday after being provisionally suspended for failing a test for a banned steroid. The 21-year-old judoka, who was defeated 11-0 in the French capital on Tuesday in the men’s under-81kg category, told AFP on the eve of the Games that competing in the Olympics was a dream come true. He was provisionally suspended on Friday after a test “returned an adverse analytical result for metabolites of the unspecified substance stanozolol,” the International Testing Agency said.
Faizad spoke in a video shared by Afghan media on Saturday.
He said he was injured four months ago while at a training camp in Uzbekistan and was undergoing treatment, suggesting that was why he tested positive.
“I’m an athlete, I’m not a medical expert. How do I know if a medication contains steroids or would produce a positive drug test?” he said.
Faizad’s sample was collected by the ITA on the day he lost to Austrian Wachid Borchashvili in his opening fight.
There are three men and three women representing Afghanistan at the Games.
Of the six, Olympic debutant Faizad was the only one who trained for the Games in his Taliban-controlled homeland.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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