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Kenyan marathon runner Muraga handed two-year doping ban
Julia Mumbi Muraga of Kenya (L) runs ahead of Nailiya Yulamanova of Russia and Bezunesh Bekele of Ethopia ( 3rd L) past the Victory Column (Siegessaeule) during women's marathon at the world athletics championships in central Berlin, August 23, 2009. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Phil Noble
20/02/2015
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Julia Mumbi Muraga, winner of the 2014 Colognemarathon, has been banned for two years after failing a drugs test, Athletics Kenya(AK) said on Thursday.
Muraga's ban comes at a time when Kenya is under intense pressure to root out doping among its athletes who are viewed as some the world's best middle and long distance runners but have failed a number of drug tests.
Muraga, 31, tested positive for the banned blood-booster Erythropoietin (EPO), Athletics Kenya (AK) said.
Athletics Kenya chief executive Isaac Mwangi Kamande said Muraga has been summoned to defend her case.
"She still has time to appeal," Mwangi told reporters in Nairobi.
Muraga has been stripped of her Cologne title after the German Anti-Doping Agency discovered that she had returned a positive test. Ethiopia's Shasho Insermu, who was second in the race, has been named as the new winner by organisers of the race.
Dozens of Kenyan athletes have failed dope tests in the past two years. Kenyan government officials have blamed the growing doping cases on foreign agents and AK's failure to educate its athletes properly.
(Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Pritha Sarkar)
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