NEW DELHI (AFP) – India’s 4x400m mixed relay silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games has been upgraded to gold after original winners Bahrain were disqualified due to a doping ban.
Former world indoor 400m champion Kemi Adekoya lost both the gold medals she won for Bahrain in Jakarta after the Nigerian-born athlete who switched allegiance to the Gulf state was banned for four years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) last year.
The AIU had said the Nigerian-born Adekoya tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.
Athletics Federation of India President Adille J. Sumariwalla said he was delighted to see the World Athletics website ranking India’s 4x400m mixed relay squad as the winner of the Asian Games.
”The news comes as a fillip to us as we are aiming to build on the Asian Games showing and make a mark at the global level in the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year,” said Sumariwalla.
Kazakhstan claim silver in the mixed relay while China moved from fourth to third.
Adekoya’s 400m hurdles title went to Vietnam’s Quach Thi Lan, while Aminat Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain was awarded silver and Indian runner Anu Raghavan won bronze.
Bahrain’s athletics program came under further scrutiny in June when Salwa Eid Naser, the 2019 world silver medalist at 400m, was provisionally banned after failing to make herself available for doping tests.
