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Azad Rahimov: Lots of questions still remain unanswered

21 November 2016 [17:15] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan’s Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov, commenting on decision of the International Olympic Committee to deprive the Azerbaijani wrestler of the Olympic medal, said a lot of questions about the topic still remain unanswered.

"Every athlete has the right to appeal the decision. We are for it. A strong substance is revealed in doping sample of Vitaliy. The wrestler himself denies it. His trainers and representatives of the federation also refuse the use of doping. Generally, in wrestling, the use of such substances is meaningless. We believe in our athlete. But, b-sample showed positive results for doping… There are a lot of questions to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which still remain unanswered,” said Rahimov.

Greco-Roman wrestler Vitaliy Rahimov, who won the silver medal of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, was deprived of his medal last week.

The IOC made a relevant decision after re-examination of his doping test. Reportedly, the test revealed the use of banned dehydrochloro-methyltestosterone (Turinabol).

Answering the question about the return of the medal, the minister said that he cannot be an intermediary in the transfer of the medal to the IOC.

“But, if there is a problem with the wrestler, the medal must be returned to the International Olympic Committee. However, we are not going to demand back the money that the wrestler received for this medal. I am sure that he did a lot for this.  He deserved the medal,” he added.

The wrestler claimed that the test is falsified, noting that he successfully passed all doping tests during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, and refusing to return back the medal.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/sports/156196.html

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