A  Lengthy track void now awaits banned young David Aya unless help comes quickly

 

 

He has been slapped with a career-ending ban, the scholarship he won to study at an American University has been suspended, and now he is pleading with Nigerians to come to his aid to pay for legal services in a bid to reduce or quash the ban so that he can resume his career and continue with his studies.

 

According to mainland News, Aya was handed a four-year ban, a long time for a high jumper to be out of action. Because it is possible to add weight, it becomes a battle to continue being fit again.

 

“As a first offender and a junior athlete, I believe four years is a long time,” said Aya.

 

“I am not yet an elite athlete, and I have not been to the Olympics yet. It is harsh, and I want Nigerians to help so that I can pay for legal counsel.”

 

He submitted that he volunteered to do the dope test on his own because when the Nigeria junior team was going to the World Athletics Junior Championships in Colombia, they were ordered to undergo dope tests before they could be on the team.

 

“I did three dope tests, and the middle gave me this problem. Before we went to Colombia, nobody told me I had issues with my test. I did not know anything. When I got to the US, they sent me a letter that I had failed a test, and my world turned upside down,” Aya recalled.

 

“I was like banging my head on the wall trying to know exactly where things had gone wrong because I know very well the implications of using drug-enhancing performance. It was then a doctor asked me if I had eaten pork. I told him yes. He told me that pork could cause a spark of steroids in the system if mixed with another health supplement I might be taking.

 

“A nutritionist friend of mine also asked me the same thing. All the vitamins I have been taking are not on the WADA list, so it shocked me. I didn’t have all this information.

 

“They say ignorance is no excuse in law; I hope I can get a good lawyer to help get out of this mess. Right now, I’m so concerned about my auntie, who gave me money to travel.

 

“She has some health issues; I had hoped that when I get to the USA, I would study and do some small jobs to support her, but now I’m caught in a web.”

Speaking on Aya’s case, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) medical and doping director Professor Ken Anugweje lamented that what happened to Aya was regrettable.

 

“But rules are rules made by the World Athletics Federation, adapted from WADA. It is based more on the substance in the system than any other consideration.

 

“Some substances warrant only public warnings, but Aya insisted that what was found in his body does not warrant a lengthy ban; these are prescribed sanctions by the WA.

 

“The claim that he ate pork is a long shot because it is no longer valid. It is a claim made before by athletes who tried to hold on to something that has to do with clenbuterol.

 

“Some countries in the past used steroids to fatten their cows and pigs; those are no longer an excuse. Where did he eat the pork, and who sold the pork to him?

 

“We know Aya very well. He used to come to the high performance to train. It is very unfortunate”.