Sports

Athletics Integrity Unit accuses Kenyan medical experts of systematic doping cover-up

Published

2 years ago

April 5, 2023

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), an arm of the World Athletic Association which oversees anti-doping programme for international athletics, has accused Kenyan medical experts of assisting the country’s athletes in covering up criminal systematic doping offences.

The AIU, in a report on Tuesday, said it reached the conclusion after two athletes used similar stories to explain medical irregularities.

The athletes, Eglay Nafuna Nalyanya and Betty Lempus, had allegedly produced the same forged paperwork to support their claim to have had an intramuscular injection at the same hospital.

The forged report has, however, alerted the anti-doping disciplinary tribunal convened by the AIU to conclude that there is a “medically-savvy operation helping athletes to try and cover up doping offences” after similarities were found in at least two recent tampering cases involving Kenyan athletes.

“The suspicion arose in the wake of the latest sanction on a Kenyan athlete, the 26-year-old Eglay Nafuna Nalyanya, banned by the AIU for eight years for three breaches of the World Athletics anti-doping rules.

“The behaviour amounts to criminal conduct involving frauds,” the AIU report said.

It added that Nalyanya, a middle-distance runner who took eighth position in the 800 metres at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, was found guilty of presence of a prohibited substance, use of a prohibited substance, and tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control.

“While assessing the facts of Nalyanya’s case, the three-member panel noticed a similar pattern of explanation and evidence by the athlete to her compatriot Betty Lempus.

“The 31-year-old Lempus, who had a personal best for the marathon of 2 hours 23 min 40 sec, was banned for five years in January for two anti-doping rule violations.

“Both Nalyanya and Lempus told the AIU that they had received intramuscular injections while being treated at the same Kenyan hospital and produced medical documents to support their claims.

“In both instances, the AIU discovered that the documents were false, the doctors were invented, and that neither athlete had received the injection.

“It is obvious from the almost identical wording of parts of the letter from the supposed doctor, Dr Philip Murey, in the Lempus case that it was written by the same individual as the equivalent letter in the present case.

“The Lempus letter was written a month before the letter from Dr Davis Lukorito Wanambisi in the present case. The pattern of behaviour is remarkably similar in both cases.

“There is no possibility in our view that the athlete in the present case had the sophistication or medical knowledge either to draft the letter from Dr Davis Lukorito Wanambisi nor the email of 24 March 2022, nor indeed to set up the scheme employed in the present case.

“Ultimately, the panel reached the conclusion that elite Kenyan athletes are being assisted by someone with considerable medical knowledge to commit what amounts to criminal conduct involving frauds on the AIU.

“We regard this conduct as a matter of the greatest possible concern and urge the AIU to take all possible steps to establish how this is occurring,” the AIU report said.

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Sports

Nigeria’s Lookman, Zambia’s Banda big winners at 2024 CAF Award

Published

3 days ago

December 17, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Nigerian sensation, Ademola Lookman, has wrapped his footballing year with another win after being declared as the Men’s Footballer of the Year by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Lookman, who plays for Italian club side Atalanta, was the biggest winner at the star-studded 2024 CAF Awards in Marrakech following 12 months with Italian side Atalanta and the Nigerian Super Eagles. He follows in the footsteps of compatriot Victor Osimhen, who claimed the award in 2023.

This is the first time Nigeria has had consecutive men’s award winners since nearly thirty years, when Nwankwo Kanu (1996) and Victor Ikpeba (1997) were awarded.

Other top African achievers recognized for their exploits during the event include South Africa’s Ronwen Williams and Zambia’s Barbra Banda. Banda was instrumental in leading Orlando Pride to the NWSL Shield and Championship in the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League season in the United States. She scored the game-winning goal in the final against Washington Spirit.

Other winners include Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie, who won Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year award for the second year in a row after another impressive season for French side Paris FC.

Sanaâ Mssoudy, a forward for AS FAR and Morocco, received the Women’s Interclub Player of the Year award after winning the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League Best Player title. Agile box-to-box midfielder, Lamine Camara of Senegal and Monaco, won the Men’s Young Player of the Year award for his outstanding performances for both club and country.

Doha El Madani, a 19-year-old Moroccan and AS FAR player, won the Women’s Young Player of the Year award after scoring six goals in five games to win the Golden Boot at the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League.

See the full winners list below:

2024 CAF AWARDS WINNERS

CAF PLAYER OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Ademola Lookman (Nigeria / Atalanta)

CAF PLAYER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Barbra Banda (Zambia / Orlando Pride)

CAF GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Ronwen Williams (South Africa / Mamelodi Sundowns)

CAF GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria / Paris FC)

CAF INTERCLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Ronwen Williams (South Africa / Mamelodi Sundowns)

CAF INTERCLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Sanaâ Mssoudy (Morocco / AS FAR)

CAF YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Lamine Camara (Senegal / AS Monaco)

CAF YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Doha El Madani (Morocco / AS FAR)

CAF COACH OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Emerse Fae (Cote d’Ivoire)

CAF COACH OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Lamia Boumehdi (TP Mazembe)

CAF NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Cote d’Ivoire

CAF NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Nigeria

CAF CLUB OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Al Ahly (Egypt)

CAF CLUB OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
TP Mazembe (DR Congo)

CAF REFEREE OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Mutaz Ibrahim (Libya)

CAF REFEREE OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Bouchra Karboubi (Morocco)

CAF ASSISTANT REFEREE OF THE YEAR (MEN)
Elvis Guy Noupue Nguegoue (Cameroon)

CAF ASSISTANT REFEREE OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
Diana Chikotesha (Zambia)

CAF GOAL OF THE YEAR
Mabululu (Angola)

Sports

Salah wins 6th EPL Player of the Month award

Published

5 days ago

December 15, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Egyptian national team captain and Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah, was on Saturday voted the EA SPORTS Player of the Month for November 2024, making it his sixth POTM diadem in his career.

Salah, who has been in inspiring form this season, has scored and assisted five of Liverpool’s seven goals as the Reds won all three of their Premier League matches to stay top of the table.

Salah’s was November’s highest scorer in the Premier League and the Egyptian is now on 13 goals for the season, level with Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race.

The 32-year-old also has 21 combined goals and assists this season, the most in the Premier League, four more than Cole Palmer, who ranked second in the voting.

This award also puts Salah alongside Premier League legends like Steven Gerrard and Cristiano Ronaldo, who also won the Player of the Month award six times, and is now just one win away from equaling the record of seven awards, held by Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero.