Botswana athlete faces ban over drugs

Former 400m world champion Amantle Montsho faces a two-year ban after
her B sample drugs test from the Commonwealth Games came back
positive.

Montsho, 31, had been provisionally suspended after her A sample
failed a doping test following the 400m final.

The Botswana athlete, who finished fourth, has until 22 August to
appeal to the Commonwealth Games Federation.

The CGF has passed its results to the relevant international
federations so a decision on a ban can be made.

Mike Hooper, chief executive of the CGF, said: "The athlete has been
notified of the findings and has the right to respond until Friday,
August 22."

The CGF only has power to disqualify Montsho from the Games following
her positive test for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine.

However, if found guilty at her hearing, Montsho will be referred to
the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and other relevant authorities for
further sanctions.

Hooper said: "In the case of the Sri Lankan gold medal boxer Manju
Wanniarachchi, who failed a drugs test in Delhi 2010, in accordance
with our Anti-Doping Standards, Wada and the International Boxing
Federation were notified of his positive test and he was banned for
two years."
Montsho won Commonwealth gold at Delhi 2010 and the world title in 2011.
Her gold medals at Delhi and Daegu were her country's first at a
Commonwealth Games and World Championships respectively, and she also
won silver at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, losing out to
Great Britain's Christine Ohuruogu in a dramatic photo-finish.
Montsho told the BBC earlier this year that she would quit athletics
after the Rio 2016 Olympics and was aiming to become a basketball
player.
She is the second athlete to have failed a drugs test at Glasgow 2014.
Nigerian weightlifter Chika Amalaha, 16, was stripped of her gold
medal after her A and B samples tested positive for banned substances.
The samples contained amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide, which are
both prohibited as diuretics and masking agents.