LAHORE: Pakistan’s athletics suffered massively in recent days as a handful of athletes were banned for doping reasons and some were provisionally suspended after they failed dope tests.
However, in such a tough time three top-rated athletes are set to return to action as their four-year ban will expire in the first week of December 2023.
These three athletes are Olympian Mehboob Ali (400m and 400m hurdles), 110 metres hurdler Mohammad Naeem and sprinter Samiullah who were banned for four years after they had failed dope tests during the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in 2019.
Their ban will expire on December 5. They are highly expected to feature in the National Athletics Championship which is expected to begin in the first week of December.
Mehboob and Naeem had claimed gold medals while Samiullah had clinched bronze in Nepal SAG. However, they were stripped of their medals after they tested positive for using anabolic androgenic steroids. “I am well and itching for a return,” Mehboob told ‘The News’ on Sunday.
“The last four years were very painful. I was waiting for this time which has now come. InshaAllah once again I will feature in my events and inshaAllah will win medals for Pakistan and Army,” Mehboob said.
“I kept training in my village. I never went to a professional event since I was banned but I have kept myself fit,” Mehboob said.
Mehboob’s maternal uncle and 110m hurdler Mohammad Naeem said that he is fit and will return with a bang. “I am training for the National Athletics Championship. I did not give up training during the four years,” Naeem told ‘The News’. ”InshaAllah I will make a strong back,” the 25-year-old was quick to add.
“I had just started my international career when I faced sanctions. Before the ban I used to train hard but now I am mentally and skill-wise more mature and feel better than before,” Naeem said.
“InshaAllah I will deliver much better. I am in contact with my department and it has already told me to keep my training and they will call me for trials,” said the athlete. Naeem said that the system needs to be improved which will provide security to the athletes from all prohibited substances.
“Athletes must have a doctor in their camps both at national and departmental level who could give them advice. This is the only step which could prevent athletes from falling prey to the menace of doping,” Naeem said.
Naeem appreciated his Army unit which backed him a lot during the last four years. “Luckily I was in such a unit which gave me due respect and helped me a lot in providing training opportunities to me during my four years ban. And now I am much better,” he recalled.
“My family also backed me a lot. We are five brothers and all are sportsmen and they backed me. They did not let me feel that I had been banned. They told me that I would make a strong comeback. Both Olympian Mehboob Ali and his elder brother Nokar Hussain, who are my nephews, backed me a lot,” Naeem said.
Sprinter Samiullah, meanwhile, said that he was ready to return to the athletics fold after a long ban. “I have started training, am fully fit and inshaAllah will make a comeback,” Samiullah told this correspondent.
Sami had lifted gold in the 2019 National Games in Peshawar and so he was picked for the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal where he got bronze in the 100m. Sami had developed a serious leg injury while undergoing training for the 2016 South Asian Games in India.
The injury put Sami out for four years of any sort of athletic action. However he recovered following marathon treatment from various sources and returned with a bang in the 19th National Games in Peshawar and the top performance put him in the South Asian Games Pakistan’s squad. According to Article 10.14.2 of the WADA Code a banned athlete can return to train during his last two months of his period of ineligibility.