Nigeria’s Paralympic champion Kehinde gets 30-month doping ban
Nigerian Paralympic and Commonwealth Games powerlifting champion, Paul Kehinde, has been banned for 30 months by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) after testing positive for banned substances.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games gold medallist in the men’s under-65 kilogram category provided a urine sample on March 9 2020 out-of-competition which flagged the prohibited substances hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride.
They are included on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 2020 Prohibited List under the class “S5 Diuretics and Masking Agents”.
It is the second anti-doping rule violation, according to the IPC.
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His ineligibility period started on March 9 2020 and is to expire on September 8 2022 and all results since his out-of-competition test have been wiped.
IPC anti-doping director James Sclater said Kehinde was given a ban due to not recording a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
“This case may have been avoided if the athlete had followed the rules for TUEs and verified that his prescribed medication was prohibited,” said Sclater.
“The IPC would like to strongly remind all athletes who require the use of a prohibited substance or method, for a diagnosed medical condition, to apply for a TUE in accordance with the WADA International Standard for TUE requirements.”
At Rio 2016, Kehinde took the gold with a lift of 218kg and set a world and Paralympic record of 220kg with a bonus effort.
China’s Hu Peng and Egypt’s Shaaban Ibrahim claimed silver and bronze.
In the men’s under-72kg category at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Kehinde lifted 221kg for gold, narrowly beating compatriot Rolland Ezuruike by less than a kilogram.
England’s Ali Jawad took bronze in the same discipline.
Kehinde could not successfully defend his title at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, losing out to Ezuruike for the gold, but did take silver, with Jawad again winning bronze.