The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has suspended four athletes from Uzbekistan – three powerlifters and one track and field athlete – each for four-year periods for separate anti-doping violations committed during a six-month period.
Powerlifters Ismira Islomova and Shakhzoda Mamadalieva both committed anti-doping violations after competing at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships.
Both athletes will be ineligible from competition from 31 August 2018 to 30 August 2022 and both will have their results from May 2018 onwards disqualified including forfeiture of any medals, points, records and prizes. This includes Mamadalieva’s junior gold medal she won at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting European Open Championships.
A third powerlifter Muslima Nuriddinova will also serve a four-year suspension after she returned an adverse analytical finding for methylstenbolone after competing on 9 September at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan. This substance is included on the WADA Prohibited List under S1.1A Exogenous AAS.
Nuriddinova will be suspended from 30 November 2018 to 29 November 2022. She has also been stripped of the junior gold medal she won at the 2018 World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championships, as well as the junior Asian record she set at the event.
James Sclater, the IPC’s Anti-Doping Director, said: “We are very alarmed and greatly concerned with the number of cases in Uzbekistan. The IPC immediately took action with an enhanced testing programme when it became apparent that four athletes – one of whom was a minor at a time of the violation – tested positive for Anabolic Androgenic Steroids within a six-month period. An investigation into the doping practices will continue and further action may be taken to ensure that athletes compete on a level playing field.”
