Chepchumba to dispute positive steroid test Digest

DIGEST/ ATHLETICS: Kenyan athlete Pamela Chepchumba will present herself at the International Association of Athletics Federations…

DIGEST/ATHLETICS: Kenyan athlete Pamela Chepchumba will present herself at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) headquarters in Monaco tomorrow to dispute her failed steroid test, local athletics officials said yesterday.

"She requested for the B sample and it is her right to prove her case," Athletics Kenya secretary David Okeyo said.

Chepchumba, a former training partner of former World marathon record holder Tegla Loroupe, became the first Kenyan athlete to test positive for the performance-enhancing drug Eryhropoietin (EPO), which helps increase the number of red cells in the blood.

She tested positive for the banned drug after she competed in the World Cross Country championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, last March, where she finished sixth in the women's 8km race.

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CYCLING: The preliminary post-mortem of French hope Fabrice Salanson revealed no trace of injury or drugs, but further tests still have to be performed, German state prosecutors said yesterday. The 23-year-old Brioches La Boulangere rider was found dead in his hotel room in Dresden on Tuesday morning.

His body was found by a team-mate shortly before the start of Tuesday's first stage of the seven-day Tour of Germany.

Meanwhile, Dutchman Gerben Lowik of the Bankgiroloterij team edged Gregory Rast of Germany to the finish line in the second stage yesterday. In the final sprint Lowik proved fresher as he won by one second from Rast, but the Phonak rider leads the overall standings by 24-seconds over Lowik.

HURLING: Wexford cruised to victory over Laois, 3-18 to 0-11, in their Leinster Intermediate hurling championship first round game at Wexford Park yesterday evening. Wexford moved into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead by the 12th minute, the goal an opportunist fourth-minute finish from corner forward Dessie Mythen.

Wexford led at the break 1-7 to 0-6, and it came as no surprise when they went on to add further goals through Niall Sheil and a second from Mythen, who finished the game with a personal tally of 2-5.

WEXFORD: J Morrissey; N Maguire, E Furlong, T Hawkins; M Murphy, T Kelly, S O'Neill; D Lyng (0-1), J O'Connor (0-4, two frees); PJ Carley (0-5), M Byrne, N Sheil (1-0); R Murphy (0-1), P Finn (0-1), D Mythen (2-5, three frees). Subs: P Donoghue for Maguire (inj); G Laffan (0-1) for Sheil; E Cullen for Murphy; S Deegan for O'Neill.

LAOIS: K Galvin; M Bowe, D Walsh, P Guilfoyle; E Ging, J McEvoy, R Conroy; P Mahon (0-1), C Brophy; S Conroy, D Russell (0-6, frees), E Fennelly (0-2); S Dwyer (0-1), B Keenan, F Deegan. Subs: D Keenan for Bowe; T Doran for Conroy; K O'Keeffe for Brophy; E Kirwan (0-1) for Deegan; C Jones for Ging.

Referee: P Dunphy (Kilkenny).