MTB ace Ariana Evangelista denies dope use at Asian Games

FILE–Ariana Evangelista–PHILCYCLING PHOTO

Ariana Evangelista on Friday strongly denied any wrongdoing after the Philippines’ female mountain bike entry tested positive for a banned substance during her recent campaign in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Breaking her silence since being named as one of three athletes that failed a doping test administered by the International Testing Agency (ITA), Evangelista apologized for the issue while waiting for the results of her B-sample following an appeal to clear her name.

“I deeply apologize to everyone for this issue and please know that it was not, and will never be, my intention to bring shame to our country,” Evangelista said on her Facebook page. “I have been tested a lot of times already in the 10 years that I’ve been racing in UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) events and it is only now that this has happened.

“There were many factors that could have led to the initial failing of the test and I have emailed those factors to the ITA already,” the multitime Southeast Asian Games medalist added.

Evangelista took the test before she placed 13th in the cross country mountain bike event at the continental meet.

The ITA said Evangelista was given a provisional suspension after blood and urine samples found traces of erythropoietin (EPO), a non-specified prohibited substance.

With her appeal, the ITA will now analyze the B-sample Evangelista mentioned which was also taken during the test to determine the accuracy of the initial findings.

“All I can do is patiently wait for the B-sample results,” said Evangelista, who has the full support of Philcycling (Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines).