Monica Iheakam
Nigerian weightlifter, Chika Amalaha, is facing an eight-year ban after a second positive drug test.
According to insidethegames, Amalaha’s samples showed traces of steroids, making her the third Nigerian woman to have twice tested positive in recent years.
The past seven Nigerian doping violations as announced by the International Weightlifting federation (IWF) are all female, and there are two cases yet to be closed, also women.
In June, this year, Balikis Otunla, 25, a continental champion at 75kg and 81kg, came up positive for steroids for the second time, having been suspended for two years in 2012.
At the age of 16, Amalaha, now 22, was stripped of her Commonwealth Games gold medal and is in for a long spell of ban from the IWF.
Her positive sample is believed to be from the All-African Games in Morocco, in August, where the Egypt team landed in so much trouble.
She made her three best career totals in her past three competitions and was all but certain of a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the 55kg category.
Amalaha won this year’s African Championships, was second at the recent All-African Games and finished 12th at the 2018 IWF World Championships, where she posed at the IWF’s “Lift Clean” display and posted a photo on Instagram.
She was disqualified at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games when she tested positive for masking agents and banned for two years.