Izuchukwu OkosiThe Athletics Integrity Unit has provisionally cleared Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan of the doping charges against her which enables her to represent the country in international competitions.
This was contained in a statement released by the AIU.
The panel which sat on Thursday, found Amusan not guilty of “Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period.”
Part of the statement read: “A panel of the Disciplinary Tribunal, by majority decision, has today found that Tobi Amusan has not committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period.
“AIU Head Brett Clothier has indicated the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) is disappointed by this decision and will review the reasoning in detail before deciding whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within the applicable deadline.
“The decision is currently confidential but will be published in due course.”
Amusan is Africa’s and World’s 100m champion in the hurdles and clearly Nigeria’s brightest medal prospect at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest which starts on Saturday.
The Nigerian athlete was at risk of being banned for two years from all Athletics events and would have missed the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Details of the AIU reversal were sketchy at press time but Prime Business Africa can report that Amusan’s name is on the standby list of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
Her name was however missing from the list of 38 officially released by the Federation.
Nigerian athletes have been banned for infractions on drug matters, most recently Blessing Okagbare and Grace Nwokocha.
Amusan is expected to join the rest of the Nigerian contingent to Budapest for the World Athletics Championship.
What is unknown is the preparedness of Amusan for the World Athletics Championship which begins on Saturday until August 27.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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