Doping: Danagogo to ‘severely sanction’ culpable coaches

In the wake of Chika Amalaha testing positive for banned drugs after clinching gold in the women’s weightlifting 52 kg category at the Commonwealth Games, the minister of sport, Tamuno Danagogo, has vowed to deal with any official who encourages athletes to use drugs in sports.

Danagogo also revealed his plans to introduce the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – a safe and painless test that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce detailed pictures of the body’s organs and structures – to crosscheck the status of athletes in future events.

“I will ensure the use of MRI scanning devices amongst others, as routine on our age-grade players, and pre-competition drug-test regime on athletes generally,” he said.

“Officials and coaches who are found to encourage or condone cheating of any kind would face severe sanctions.”

“The reported first sample drug-test failure of our female weightlifter is very embarrassing and I feel so saddened although I am still convinced that the 16-year-old Amalaha is innocent and I hope that she doesn’t fail the ‘confirmation test.’”

Her ‘A’ sample revealed traces of diuretics and masking agents, but the result of the ‘B’ sample, which was expected to be tested in a London laboratory on Wednesday, is still being awaited.