Asian Games: Saudi runner suspended after positive drug test

FILE– Members of Team Saudi Arabia take part in the athletes parade during the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games. (Photo by Luo Yunfei/China News Service/VCG )

HANGZHOU, China–Saudi Arabian distance runner Yousef Mohammed Alasiri tested positive for a banned substance at the Asian Games and has been provisionally suspended, the International Testing Agency (ITA) said.

Alasiri was entered in the men’s 5,000 and 10,000 meters events in Hangzhou but did not start in either race.

The 34-year-old had returned an “adverse analytical finding for the non-specified prohibited substance darbepoetin”, the ITA said.

Darbepoetin is a re-engineered form of erythropoietin, also known as EPO, a common blood-booster.

The ITA runs testing at the Games.

The Saudi Olympic Committee was unable to provide immediate comment.

Alasiri is the second athlete to test positive for a banned substance at the Games.

Afghanistan boxer Mohammad Khaibar Nooristani was provisionally suspended last week for a positive test.