STAM finds drug trio guilty

25/11/2002

SEPAK TAKRAW players Mohamed Hanif Azman, Mohamed Firdaus Abdul Ghani and Mohamed Aznan Raslan have been banned for two years for knowingly consuming cough mixture containing morphine just before the Busan Asian Games in September.
Sepak Takraw Association of Malaysia (STAM) acting president Tengku
Muhammad Sultan Abu Bakar said the trio were banned because they brought shame to the sport, association and country.
STAM, promised Tengku Adnan, will also make sure the sport stays clean
but first, it will get its house in order by electing a new president
during the BGM on Dec 15.
Former president Datuk Saidin Tamby, a former Selangor state executive councillor, vacated his post after he was found guilty by the Sessions Court of receiving a million-ringgit bribe and was jailed one year and fined RM10,000 in August.
The trio, who were sent home after they tested positive for morphine in
doping tests conducted by the National Sports Council prior to the Games, were found to have abused the drug with the intention of cheating.
"We promised to take action, and today (yesterday), after a thorough
investigation, we have found that the three players took cough mixture
which contained morphine with the intention of cheating.
"They have violated the International Olympic Council (IOC) code and
will have to stay away from the sport.
"After two years, we will impose a one-year good behaviour bond. And if
they still abuse morphine, or any other drug during the one-year
probation, we will not hesitate to ban them for life," said Tengku
Muhammad.
In the course of investigations, the STAM committee was sent on a wild
goose chase by Mohamed Hanif who claimed that he was given the cough
mixture by a relative.
"We were led to believe that the trio unknowingly took the cough mixture
during the initial phase of investigations. But when we probed deeper, and found out that Mohamed Hanif was not telling us the truth, the element of cheating surfaced.
"All the leads that Mohamed Hanif gave us turned out to be dead ends,
and we never found out who actually gave the trio the morphine-based cough mixture," said Tengku Muhammad.
The trio tested positive during a routine test by NSC, which
subsequently sent the urine samples to the Universiti Sains Malaysia
laboratory in Penang. The trio were however given the benefit of doubt and allowed to go to Busan.
But after the second samples proved positive, Asian Games chef-de-
mission Datuk Khalid Yunus sent them home.
The STAM council will meet again on Dec 1, and the main agenda is to
amend the constitution and allow an outsider to be appointed as the
president. Presently, the president must be a serving State association
member.
"We will take steps to make sure that the sport is void of drugs. And
steps can only be taken after we amend the STAM constitution and hold
elections in December," said Tengku Muhammad.
(END)