BERLIN, (Reuters) – Iran’s world champion Amir Aziz Ali Akbari, who won the 120kg-weight class title in September in Hungary, has been banned for life after a second doping offence, the International Wrestling Federation said yesterday.
The athlete, who missed last year’s London Olympic Games due to a doping suspension, tested positive for anabolic steroids during the world championships in Budapest in September and has been stripped of his gold medal, FILA said.
“We are serious about making our sport drug free and protecting those athletes who are abiding by the rules,” FILA president Nenad Lalovic said in a statement.
“It has not been a problem for us in the past and we want to continue that pattern in our sport.”
World silver medalist Heiki Nabi from Estonia, who was second in London, will move up to gold.
Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp will be awarded silver and both Kazakh athlete Nurmakhan Tinaliyev and Sweden’s Johan Magnus Euren will move up to bronze.
