Top Bulgarian Sprinter Naimova Imposed Temporary Doping Ban

Bulgaria's Tezdzhan Naimova won the women's 60 race at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 7.10 seconds. Photo by Wikipedia

Bulgarian sprinter Tezdzhan Naimova will be temporary banned after testing positive for taking anabolic steroid Drostanolone, the country’s athletics federation announced on Tuesday.

Naimova, who has been widely regarded as one of Bulgaria’s most promising athletes, has the right to defend herself within two weeks.

"We are very sorry for this and hope that she can give a reasonable explanation. But we will stick to the rules – abide by the law and respect her rights too,” Bulgarian athletics federation president Dobri Karamarinov told media on Tuesday.

Bulgaria's Tezdzhan Naimova won the women's 60 race at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 7.10 seconds, nosing out Mariya Ryemyen of Ukraine.

France's Myriam Soumare was third, while Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova ranked fourth.

If the charges are confirmed, Naimova will have to give up her European title.

At the beginning of 2009 Tezdzhan Naimova was banned for two years for manipulating a doping sample.

Naimova was ruled to have tampered with her urine sample at an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) out-of-competition test in Sofia on June 28, 2008.

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