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Athletics Kenya has opted against fielding a relay team due to a doping case that would complicate matters in future
Kenya will not have the men’s 4x100m relay team at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary after Athletics Kenya took a tactical retreat and withdrew the squad.
According to Nation, Athletics Kenya opted against fielding a team by the close of deadline on Monday to avoid being caught up in problems in future having been ranked 14th by July 30.
AK had named Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala, Boniface Mweresa, Steve Onyango, Dan Kiviasi, Hesbon Ochieng and Samuel Chege in their 4x100m relay team but opted against fielding them due to a doping case in early June.
Omanyala, Mweresa and Ochieng had teamed up with Samuel Imeta to win the 4x100m relay at the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in a time of 38.26 in April this year which moved them to 12th on the world rankings.
That put Kenya in a great position to qualify for the Worlds but on June 3, Imeta was among 20 athletes who were provisionally suspended by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya after testing positive for Anabolic Androgenic Steroids at the AK Track and Field Meeting in February 2023 and sensing danger, Kenya opted against fielding the team.
“We just couldn’t risk, hence opting not to enter a team in that event,” AK boss jack Tuwei told Nation.
If he is sanctioned for doping, Imeta’s times would be scrapped, rendering Kenya’s qualification null and void, hence AK’s decision against fielding the team.
The withdrawal leaves Kenya with the men’s 4x400m relay and the 4x400m mixed relays teams at the World Championships which will gun off from August 19-27 in the Hungarian capital.
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