Singapore bans seven bodybuilders for doping

SINGAPORE (AFP) –

Photo illustration shows a bodybuilding competion. Seven Singapore bodybuilders have been slapped with two-year bans after testing positive for prohibited drugs in a local competition, the city-state’s sports authority said.

Seven Singapore bodybuilders have been slapped with two-year bans after testing positive for prohibited drugs in a local competition, the city-state’s sports authority said.

The ban, to take place immediately, “is believed to be the highest number of drug cheats sanctioned at one go in Singapore sport”, local daily the Straits Times reported.

The seven were suspended after they failed urine tests while competing in the 50th Singapore National Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship 2012 last month, Singapore Sports Council (SSC) said in a statement.

Muscle growth steroids and stimulant drugs such as clenbuterol were detected, with one bodybuilder’s sample containing seven different banned drugs.

“They are ineligible to participate, as an athlete or support personnel, in any sport during the period of the ban… all results, medals, points and prizes attained at the event have been forfeited,” the SSC said.

Singapore’s sporting scene is relatively scandal-free with few known cases of doping or corruption.