Another Saudi Arabian athlete suspended for banned substance

Saudi Arabian athlete Wesam Nasser A Alfarsi has been suspended from competing after testing positive for the banned substance darbepoetin at the 19th Asian Games (ASIAD 2023).

The International Doping Agency (ITA) announced that the doping test results conducted on September 29 on Alfarsi showed that this athlete tested positive for darbepoetin - an active substance that can promote blood circulation in the body similar to erythropoietin (EPO).

Alfarsi is the second Saudi Arabian athlete to be suspended from competing at the Asian Games. Previously, his teammate in the Athletics Team, Yousef Mohammed Alasiri, was also banned from competing due to testing positive for darbepoetin.

Alfarsi is the sixth athlete to test positive for a banned substance at the 2023 Asian Games. Previously, five cases were suspended from competition for similar reasons.

In addition to Yousef Mohammed Alasiri, the "blacklist" also includes Uzbek cyclist Aleksey Fomovskiy, Filipino mountain biker Ariana Evangelista, boxer Mohammad Khaibar Nooristani (Afghanistan) and Kurash boxer Tejan Tejenov (Turkmenistan).

Notably, among the above names, Tejan Tejenov is the athlete who brought home a silver medal for the Turkmenistan Sports Delegation in the Men's +90kg category.

There are about 12,000 athletes participating in the 19th ASIAD in Hangzhou.

Mani Jegathesan, advisor to the Olympic Council of Asia’s Anti-Doping Commission, admitted that it would be impossible to test all athletes. Instead, the authorities would randomly select athletes, including those with high achievements such as breaking world or Asian records, or those who “received confidential information”.