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Morocco and Nigeria were on Thursday added to the list of countries at the highest doping risk by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), less than five months from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Countries worldwide are classified by the AIU in three categories — A, B and C — according to the level of doping risk to the sport, with category A having the highest doping risk to the sport and category C the lowest.
Morocco and Nigeria join Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Ukraine as having category A status. Russia has been banned over doping since November 2015.
The AIU, the independent anti-doping watchdog for track and field, said that in 2019, the Nigerian athletics federation failed to report on compliance as a category B country.
“This very serious situation motivated the AIU board to move Nigeria into category A,” it said.
Turning to Morocco, the AIU said that, despite significant efforts, “a number of national-level issues have not been addressed”.
“The doping threat in Morocco remains acute and the AIU considers that more needs to be done to address the threat, where applicable, with the support of the relevant Moroccan authorities.”
AFP/Punch
