Four 15th PON athletes fail drug tests, face punishment
JAKARTA (JP): The 15th National Games (PON) Organizing Committee's antidoping committee announced on Friday the names of four athletes who failed dope tests conducted by the body in July.
The committee's chairman, Indra Kartasasmita, named the four as men's rower Djody Winarso (Central Java), bodybuilders Djalal (East Java) and S.D. Yanda (Jakarta), and men's weightlifter Ferry Ardiatos (Jambi).
Indra said he had informed the concerned sports organizations so they could decide on the punishment for each athlete.
"The chairman of PON organizers, Imam Utomo, will decide whether to strip the athletes of any medals they won. Provincial authorities will also determine whether the athletes must return the cash bonuses they received after winning medals," he said.
Indra said Djalal and Yanda tested positive for using the anabolic steroid ephedrine, which helps develop muscle strength and mass. Djody tested positive for phenylpropanolamine and Ferry metandienone mets, which are illegal stimulants.
The Central Java chapter of the National Sports Council (KONI) sent a letter to the organizers, confirming that Djody took unprescribed medicine one week before the doping test was conducted.
Indra said Yanda's medical team also informed the committee that he took some cough syrup. He claims he was unaware the medicine contained ephedrine.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) medical code's Chapter 2, Article 3, Clause 1 says anyone caught taking certain banned substances, including ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine, can be banned from participating in competitions, fined a maximum of US$100,000 and suspended for up to two years.
The drug test was held at the National Doping Control Center at the Mahidol University in Bangkok.
Indra, who is also in charge of foreign affairs at KONI, said five other athletes were free of charges of using banned substances.
Women's kayaker Mintauli H. (North Sumatra), men's volleyball player Markoji (East Java), women's rower Enggelina Ohello of Irian Jaya and sprinter Novian Suhendra (South Sumatra) earlier tested positive for levorphanol.
Indra said the test result for men's judoka Nyoman Sudarmayasa (West Java) came back stating he had a high ratio of testosterone in his system.
"We cannot accept the test result as levorphanol cannot be found in Indonesia. Moreover, we have received confirmation from the IOC antidoping committee that levorphanol is four to five times stronger than morphine. If athletes have this substance in their systems, they could not run or play volleyball."
He said he asked the doping control center to double check the test result of the five athletes.
"Instead of levorphanol, the laboratory analysts found traces of dextromethorphan in the urine samples B. The latter substance is generally contained in unprescribed cough syrups. So the four athletes did not take illegal substances.
"While Sudarmayasa, after the second test, only had a ratio of 4.9 for the testosterone. The ratio is permissible by the IOC antidoping committee," he said. (ivy)