Behrouz Hedayat of Iran has lost an appeal and was handed a four-year ban by Iran’s National Anti-Doping Agency (IraNADO) on Wednesday. The ban comes after men’s 87kg Greco-Roman wrestler was tested positive for banned substances stanozolol and trenbolone at the Takhti Cup. This is not the first time he has been involved in a controversy.
In February, Hedayat had, to everyone’s surprise, forfeited the semi-finals match at the Asian Championships. He had started his competition strongly, beating world bronze medallist Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan in the first round and looked comfortably placed for victory in the semi-final against Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan, whom he was leading 7-0 with about six seconds on the clock.
According to a report by ESPN, the Iranian coaches had claimed that the wrestler suffered a sprained ankle but there were plenty of doubts over the nature of his injury considering he showed little signs of discomfort and left the mat under his own power. He later did not show up for his bronze medal play-off. By failing to turn-up, he was technically ineligible to undergo testing for doping. As per norms, only the medal winners of the tournament are expected to undergo mandatory dope testing.
With the ban now in place, he will miss the Tokyo Olympics which will be held next year from July 23 to August 9.