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By Daily Sports Nigeria on August 18, 2023

• AIU clears Amusan to compete at World Championships

Relief finally came the way of anxious Nigerians on Thursday night, after the Athletics Integrity Unit lifted with immediate effect the provisional suspension of Tobi Amusan, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

This means that Amusan will compete at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from August 19 to 27.

Amusan was provisionally suspended by the AIU in July for missing three whereabouts tests.

According to World Athletics’ anti-doping rules, any athlete who misses three drug tests in the space of 12 months will be banned for two years, subject to a reduction to a minimum of one year depending on degree of fault.

But on Thursday, a panel of the Disciplinary Tribunal, by majority decision, discovered that Amusan did not violate any rule as claimed by the body in July.

“A panel of the Disciplinary Tribunal, by majority decision, has today found that Tobi Amusan has not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period,” the statement reads.

“The decision is currently confidential but will be published in due course. Amusan’s provisional suspension has now been lifted with immediate effect,” the tribunal stated.

Dare Esan, a board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, also confirmed that the 26-year-old will be competing in Budapest.

“Amusan will be competing at the World Championship in Budapest,” Dare said.

“It is a big relief for every one of us.”

Meanwhile, AIU Head, Brett Clothier, has expressed the body’s disappointment following the ruling clearing the world champion and record holder.

He also vowed that AIU would review the decision in detail before deciding whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within the applicable deadline.

Amusan set a new world record of 12.12secs when she won gold at the World Championships in Eugene in July 2022.

She also won gold at the last edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, after finished fourth at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.

Amusan had vowed to “fight” to clear her name after being charged with missing three doping tests.

“I am a clean athlete,” Amusan wrote on Instagram in July.

“I am regularly (maybe more than usual) tested by the AIU. I have faith that this will be resolved in my favour and that I will be competing at the World Championships in August. I intend to fight these charges and my case will be decided by a tribunal of three referees before the start of the World Championships next month,” Amusan added.

Source Punch Ng

Posted August 18, 2023