Ravena wants to raise awareness on anti-doping issues after ban

An apologetic Kiefer Ravena speaks to the media during a press conference. Ravena has been suspended by Fiba for 18 months after testing positive for prohibited substances he got from a pre-workout drink. Photo by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net

Embattled Kiefer Ravena aims to lead the way in raising awareness on the dangers and risks of prohibited substances.

Ravena is serving an 18-month suspension from Fiba after testing positive for banned substances, a consequence he wouldn’t want others to suffer from by committing the same mistake he did.

“Just the knowledge, again, I should be the instrument for athletes to learn and see that not anything that you can buy over the counter may be legal,” Ravena told reporters on Monday.

“I’m not the first case of WADA due to irresponsibility and the lack of knowledge. There are a lot of previous examples that we can study and like for now, in my case, to really extend the knowledge of people and athletes here,” he said. “Then, it’s a very big help with MVP together with the Japanese, they’re hoping to have a venture here to put up a WADA facility where we can really help other athletes be aware.”

Ravena had said it was an honest mistake on his part for not knowing that the pre-workout supplement he took contained banned substances in the World Anti-Doping Agency List.

“Awareness is the most important thing. You have to be careful and you can’t be too lackadaisical.You have to be really, really careful and really responsible.”