5 Papua PON Athletes Evidenced Positively Doping

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency (IADO) on Friday announced that five athletes competing in the 2021 Papua National Sports Week (PON) had tested positive for doping based on tests conducted during the quadrennial sporting event.

The five athletes were found positive for doping after the IADO tested 718 athletes out of a total of 7,038 athletes who took part in the Papua PON on October 2-15 last year. The sample was then sent to an anti-doping laboratory in Doha, Qatar as one of the laboratories accredited by WADA.

Launching Antara, of the five athletes, four of them are bodybuilding athletes on behalf of Kariyono from East Java Province, Abdul Manan from Bangka Belitung Province, Andri Yanto from Aceh Province, and Putu Martika from Bengkulu Province, while one other athlete is a weightlifter on behalf of Carel Yulius from West Java.

Of the five athletes, three of them are Papuan PON gold medalists. They are Andri Yanto, Putu Martika and Carel Yulius. Meanwhile, Kariyono won a bronze medal and Abdul Manan got silver.

"IADO has decided to ask the 2021 Papua PON Grand Committee to withdraw medals, scores and records for three athletes from bodybuilding sports," said IADO General Chair Gatot S. Dewa Broto in a written statement, Friday.

Two other athletes had filed an appeal but the appeal was rejected due to the weak argument given during the appeal hearing. Thus, the two athletes also received similar sanctions.

The five athletes were declared to have violated the anti-doping provisions regulated in the World Anti-Doping Code so that they were sentenced to a four-year ban from December 24, 2021 to December 23, 2025.