News / Sports

Iranian wrestler suspended for 4 years over negligence

Monday, 14 December 2015 2:26 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 December 2015 2:26 PM ]

Iranian freestyle wrestler Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian

The United World Wrestling has slapped Iranian freestyle wrestler Mohammad Hossein Mohammadian with a four-year suspension in a performance-enhancing drug case, which Iran’s sports authorities say arose out of negligence.

The 23-year-old athlete was officially banned from wrestling after he tested positive for a powerful anabolic steroid.

Spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation Alireza Rezaei said Mohammadian broke his ankle nearly eight months ago, and sought treatment from a doctor that was not a party to the federation’s medical committees.

Rezaei added that the doctor, whose name was not released, purportedly prescribed a drug for the quick recovery of Mohammadian’s bone tissue fracture, and the medicine contained substances subject to anti-doping regulations.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation official said the young Iranian wrestler neither had any information about the nature of the drug nor notified sports authorities of his medication.

Mohammadian then took a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) test, and the result was inadvertently positive.

On July 18, Mohammadian downed his Ukrainian opponent Pavlo Oliinyk 2-1 in the last encounter of men’s 97-kilogram weight category at the Stepan Sargsyan Cup 2015 in Armenia, and collected the gold medal.

Meanwhile, Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler Taleb Ne'matpour has been banned for life after failing a second doping test.

Ne’matpour had tested positive for trenbolone at the Greco-Roman World Cup on May 23, 2014, in Tehran, and was subsequently handed a two-year suspension.

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