media_artricles :: 2013

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE

Baptiste tests positive

Kelly-Ann Baptiste has tested positive for a banned substance, and has left the IAAF World Championships, here in Moscow, Russia.

“She has voluntarily withdrawn from the competition and is heading back to her base,” Trinidad and Tobago team manager Dexter Voisin told the Express, today.

However, he refused to confirm that Baptiste had tested positive.

However, a reliable source later confirmed that the 2011 World Championship women’s 100 metres bronze medallist had actually returned a positive test.

Another T&T sprinter, Semoy Hackett has also withdrawn from the meet. “They both left this morning,” said Voisin.

Hackett, a standout sprinter for Louisiana State University (LSU), had tested positive for Methylhexaneamine at the 2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, in Iowa, USA. As a result, she was handed a provisional suspension by a National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) disciplinary panel.

The suspension was later lifted by the NAAA panel, and Hackett was free to run at the National Championships, in June. But the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has appealed the NAAA ruling, taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“The IAAF doping department has re-suspended Hackett,” Voisin explained, “pending the outcome of the CAS case.”

NAAA president Ephraim Serrette told the Express that the withdrawal of Baptiste and Hackett from the 14th IAAF World Championships will be addressed in a press release within 48 hours.

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