KUALA LUMPUR: Terengganu Weightlifting Association (TWA) have claimed that two of their athletes, who failed drug tests just before the Malaysia Games, had inadvertently taken banned substances.
TWA president Shafaruddin Mustafa said the duo - both men - had unknowingly consumed the substances during a recent training camp in Cameron Highlands.
"One of the athletes was suffering from asthma due to the cold weather in Cameron Highlands while the other had been struggling with a shoulder injury," said Shafaruddin when met in Putrajaya today.
"They had purchased medicine from a pharmacy in Cameron Highlands to help them.
"Unfortunately these medicines, which we had shown to the Anti-Doping Agency of Malaysia (Adamas), contained the banned substances."
Shafaruddin said Terengganu will not be requesting to have the "B" samples of the duo tested.
"As we already know the cause of the positive tests, we do not feel it's necessary for us to have the 'B' samples opened," said Shafaruddin.
"We will discuss the necessary steps moving forward together with the National Sports Council and Malaysian Weightlifting Federation.
"We are hoping that the two athletes will not be given suspensions that are too long.
"They are both devastated at the moment as they have had waited four years for this opportunity to compete at the Malaysia Games following the previous postponements (due to Covid pandemic).
"This was going to be their last appearance at the Games due to the age factor."
All the weightlifters registered for the Malaysia Games this year had to undergo a compulsory drug screening prior to the Games.
A total of three weightlifters had failed the test. The other weightlifter is from Perlis. The two Terengganu lifters had tested positive for terbutaline, a beta 2-agonist often used in asthma inhalers, as well as methandione (androgenic anabolic steroid). The Perlis lifter had tested positive for oxymetholone (androgenic anabolic steroid).
This is not the first time a Terengganu weightlifter had tested positive at the Games. At the 2018 Perak Games, Nurul Afiqah Muhammad Zamzuri tested positive for methylhexaneamine (stimulant). She was stripped of her gold medal and suspended for eight months.
Afiqah made a triumphant return to the Games yesterday in the women's Under-45kg class.
MWF had intended to completely ban the states that had even a single positive test from the Malaysia Games this year. The National Sports Council (NSC), however, did not agree to this. This led to MWF withdrawing their technical support for the competition, forcing the event's start to be delayed by one day.