Turkmenistan's Tejen Tejenov has become the first medallist of the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou to fail a doping test. Overall, he is the fifth athlete in the games this year to be tested positive for consuming a banned substance. Tejenov won the silver medal in the heavyweight 90kg category of kurash, an ancient form of wrestling.
The 30-year-old was tested on September 30, the day he won the medal. The International Testing Agency (ITA) has confirmed that Tejen has tested positive for anabolic steroids. He has been provisionally suspended right now and could even be stripped of his silver medal.
"The athlete has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect. He has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample," the ITA said. ITA also took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the development earlier in the day. "Anti-doping rule violation: The ITA reports that a sample collected from Kurash athlete Tejen Tejenov from Turkmenistan, during the @19thAGofficial, has returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for non-specified prohibited substances," the tweet read.
Tejen Tejenov had won silver after falling behind against the eventual winner from Uzbekistan Mukhsin Khismomiddinov. While the Turkmenistan wrestler is the first medallist in the Games this year to test positive for a banned substance, four other athletes have been provisionally suspended already for failing a dope test. Uzbek cyclist Aleksey Fomovskiy, Philippine mountain bike rider Ariana Evangelista, Saudi distance runner Mohammed Yousef Alasiri, and Afghan boxer Mohammad Khaibar Nooristani are the athletes who have failed the doping test.
