Kenyan athlete wins doping case, to sue Adak for damages

The 2016 world under-20 800metres champion Kumari Taki is contemplating suing Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) for damages after he was cleared of any wrongdoing in his anti-doping rules violation case by the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT).

SDT dismissed Adak’s case against Taki, whom they stopped from competing at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July, last year, for allegedly having tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO).

SDT’s panel that comprised Elynah Sifuna-Shiveka, Peter Ochieng and Allan Owinyi put ADAK to task on how the samples that implicated Taki were collected in Iten yet the athlete was in Nyahururu on the said date.

SDT also questioned how Adak’s Senior Testing Officer, Mary Nyokabi Kairu, who testified against Taki,  alleged that the athlete had been flagged down for anomalies in his Athlete Biological Passport way back in July 2016 only to change the dates to 2017 during cross-examination.

In his defence, Taki, who was represented by Kirimi Mbobua, stated that he has never taken an illegal substance and that all the tests carried out on May 28, 2022, June 25, 2022 and July 14, 2022 all returned negative results.

Taki explained that when he logged into the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) Administration and Management System (ADAMS) he noticed that it was indicated that the offending sample of June 22, 2022 was taken at Iten whereas his sample was collected at Nyahururu.

Taki stated that on June 22, 2022, officials from Adak came to his training base in Nyahururu and collected his samples before heading for trials held June 24-25 at Kasarani where he finished third and qualified for Birmingham Games.

“Samples were collected again on 25th June 2022 for testing,” said Taki in his submission.

Taki believes that the sample collected on June 22, 2022 that implicated may have been tampered with after he had been picked in Team Kenya for the World Athletics Championships held in Oregon, United States of America and Birmingham Commonwealth Games all last year.

After competing in Oregon where he lost in the semi-finals, Taki traveled to Great Britain for the Commonwealth Games where he failed to compete after being hounded out for a doping offence that later turned out to be EPO.

Taki admitted that he had not requested for analysis of Sample B as he claimed the samples were already altered and swapped with someone who was in Iten.

“Failing to publish the correct location where the offending sample of June 22, 2022 was taken is a clear departure from International Standards,” said Taki.

Bildad Rogoncho, who represented Adak, said he will appeal the decision as Kirimi vowed to sue Adak for damages on behalf of his athlete.

“The Applicant (Adak) has not adequately and satisfactorily explained the disparity on location indicated on the ADAMS account,” said SDT in its ruling, adding that Adak has not satisfied the Panel that the testing and findings were conducted in line with the international standards of testing and investigation.

His case was heard on April 6, 2023 and on May 4, 2023 before the ruling on August 11.