Africa-Press – Cape verde. The National Anti-Doping Organization (ONAD) decided to apply a four-year suspension to four female handball athletes from the Seven Stars, from the city of Praia, “for refusing the anti-doping control”. The position was contested by the management of Seven Stars, which will appeal in sporting and judicial instances.
According to the final report of the disciplinary process instituted by the athletes Carina Santos, Indira Gandy, Nádia Pereira and Rosângela Andrade, by the National Anti-Doping Organization (ONAD), the athletes in question were suspended for four years from the competition for having refused to undergo tests doping control, in July, after a game at the Vavá Duarte sports hall, in the city of Praia.
The ONAD justifies the penalty, in a note dated November 10, 2022, quoted by Inforpress, as “by refusing to submit to the anti-doping test control after being notified to that effect” the athletes in question acted “in a freely, voluntarily and illegally, likely to constitute a violation of anti-doping rules”.
With this sanction, ONAD informs the parties that during that period, that is, the four years, the athletes in question “are unable to participate in any capacity, in any competition or activity, except participation in anti-doping education or rehabilitation programs , authorized (…)”.
Board of the Seven Stars Youth Club contests decision
The management of the Seven Stars Youth Club announced, in a statement signed by President Francisco Livramento, that it will file an appeal to be presented to the WADA Foundation Board and the Court of the District of Praia, denouncing situations that they consider extremely serious.
Seven Stars alleges that the penalized athletes were subjected to “psychological pressure and terror sessions” by the president of ONAD-CV, Emanuel Passos, and to “an attempt to entice the technicians” of this anti-doping organization to denounce other athletes who used prohibited substances in exchange for reduced sentences.
“Regardless of the ongoing appeal process, we want to state that we are facing an act of pure revanchism and without precedent in the history of Cape Verdean sport”, reads the note from Seven Stars, which accuses ONAD-CV of applying a sanction tremendously exaggerated and disproportionate, just to show services, “in a purely amateur sport”.
Likewise, the Seven Stars board considers that ONAD-CV revealed “a lot of immaturity and a lot of revanchism” when “sports institutions require a lot of wisdom and consideration when making decisions that may affect Cape Verdean sport”.
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