FOR two years, sprinter Syazrul Adli Saiful Adli was secretly consuming banned substances to increase his speed, but his career came to a screeching halt yesterday.
The 18-year-old was banned for four years by the Malaysian Athletics Federation (MAF) after he failed a random doping test conducted during the Malaysian Closed Athletics Championships in August last year.
His A sample came out positive for methasterone and oxymetholone, which are classified by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as banned substances under the anabolic androgenic steroids.
His urine sample was tested in Doha, Qatar.
Syazrul decided not to contest his B sample.
MAF president Datuk S.M. Muthu was his usual smiling self but came down hard on the doping cheat.
“We banned him for four years and while he can continue training, he can’t take part in any competitions abroad or in Malaysia,” said Muthu at the Olympic Council of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
“MAF are strict on doping cases. Greedy athletes not only cheat the country but endanger themselves in the process.
“Syazrul was caught and got off lightly as he could have suffered worse medically in the long run.”
According to Muthu, the sprinter kept changing his story (three times to be exact).
“Every time we called him up for questioning, he kept changing his story. First, he claimed he had purchased the banned substances before claiming that a friend had provided them to him.
“And then, he changed his story again by claiming that his coach Poad Kassim supplied the banned substances.
“And when we called both Syazrul and Poad to face MAF, the athlete changed his story again and said it was not the coach.
“That is why we cleared our coach Poad and came down hard on Syazrul,” said Muthu.
The Penang-born was part of the 4x100m Johor relay team who won gold at the Malaysian Closed.
A search showed that he had clocked 11.09s in the 100m and 21.89s in the 200m last year.
Methasterone enhances strength while oxymetholone promotes weight gain and muscle growth.
Syazrul can appeal against the ban within 30 days, and his age could be a helping factor to reduce his sentence.
In 2011, relay runner Yunus Lasaleh failed a dope test after winning gold at the Indonesia Sea Games.
He later made a stunning admission that then MAU deputy president Datuk Karim Ibrahim had arranged for a Bulgarian doctor to provide him with “pills that could help me win gold at the Sea Games.”
Karim was found guilty and subsequently banned for six years.