Ni Made fails SEAG drug test

Ni Made fails SEAG drug test

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's pencak silat (martial arts) gold
medalist Ni Made Wahyuni has failed a drug test conducted by the
Brunei Darussalam 1999 SEA Games organizer.

National Sports Council (KONI) secretary-general Rudolf Warouw
announced on Friday that a member of the SEA Games federation,
Cahyo Adi, would defend Wahyuni in an executive meeting in Bandar
Seri Begawan on Wednesday. Wahyuni claims she was using
medication to treat her asthma.

"She did not use a banned substance. She used a spray medicine
to treat her asthma, which caused her to fail the doping test.
She should have declared she was on medication before the test to
avoid this problem," he said.

Senior fighter Wahyuni, who plans to retire from the sport
after the 2000 National Games (PON) in Surabaya, East Java,
overwhelmed Nguyen Minh Le of Vietnam in the women's class E (65-
70 kilograms) final in Bandar Seri Begawan in August.

Rudolf said the organizer would be asked not to strip Wahyuni
of her gold medal.

"When a Thai athlete failed a drug test for using mild
treatment in the 1997 SEA Games here, we freed him of any charge
and we did not take away the medal. I hope this year's Games
organizer will do the same," he said.

State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono said
on Friday that he had asked KONI to defend the fighter in the
meeting because she did not intentionally use a banned substance.

"If she had used drugs to boost her performance, I would ask
the council to take stern measures against her. But if she can
prove that she used medication for her illness, then we must
defend her," he said. (ivy)