The week in sanctions: Okolie tests positive, fight card cancelled

  

 

Six days before British boxer Okolie was due to face Tony Yoka on Saturday in Paris, the promoter Queensberry announced an adverse analytical finding, while Ethiopian athlete Zinash Gerado Senbeta was provisionally suspended for the use of steroids.

★ UNCONTROLABLE CIRCUMSTANCES

Lawrence Okolie, a 33-year-old two-time world champion, said upon learning of the positive test result that he hoped "common sense would prevail", as he claims the substance — yet to be disclosed — that appeared in the test carried out last Monday was due to treatment for an elbow injury.

According to the UK public broadcaster BBC, the scheduled fight card has been cancelled, as the bout between Okolie and Yoka — the 2016 Olympic champion — was the main event of the evening. Queensberry stated that this was due to 'circumstances beyond our control'.

 

★ HEALING PROCESS

The promoter said that the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association had informed them on Monday night that Okolie had returned an adverse analytical finding in an anti-doping test conducted ahead of the event in Paris on Saturday. "Before anyone starts to think the worst, I should mention that I suffered an elbow injury on the same arm during this training camp, following my bicep injury last year," Okolie said in a statement posted on social media.

Okolie was the world cruiserweight champion before moving up to the heavyweight division in 2024, where he was due to fight Yoka. He has already had three fights in the heavyweight division, winning all of them, the latest of which was against Ebenezer Tetteh at the Onikan Stadium in Nigeria in December. "Of course, I will fully cooperate with all relevant authorities, and I am confident that any investigation will clear my name," he added on Instagram.

The cancellation is also a major setback for Yoka, who now faces a period of inactivity, as well as for the co-main event fighters, Bakary Samake and Ermal Hadribeaj, whose bout was set to be an important light-heavyweight eliminator.

★ STEROID FAMILY TREE

Meanwhile, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced this week that Ethiopian runner Senbeta, aged 28, was provisionally suspended by the German National Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive during the Generali Berlin Half Marathon on 3 April. The substance found in her sample belongs to the steroid family.

Senbeta, a middle-distance specialist, achieved a personal best marathon time of 2:21:05 at the 2023 Ljubljana Marathon. With this time, the Ethiopian set a new course record, though the men's record remained intact after Kenyan Edmond Kipngetich won his first marathon. Senbeta improved on the previous record set by her compatriot, Dagne Siranesh Yirga, by three seconds.

The Ethiopian athlete submitted an appeal, which is now being reviewed by the AIU to determine any final sanctions.