Disqualified Ogunsemilore denies doping, as Aruna, Omotayo lose in first round

D’Tigress battle Australia today

Nigeria’s female boxer, Cynthia Ogunsemilore, has denied allegations of ingesting banned substances, which resulted in her disqualification from the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Team Nigeria’s camp was rocked at the weekend when the news broke that Ogunsemilore, a southpaw boxer, had been disqualified by the International Testing Agency (ITA) for testing positive for the banned Diuretic Furosemide in a sample taken on Friday, July 26.

While denying the allegation, she insisted on another test to prove her innocence.

“This looks like a setup to tarnish my image and deny me a chance to win an Olympic gold. I have never doped in my life, maybe they mistook someone else’s sample for mine,” she told sportsvillagesqure.com.

“They want to ruin my career, I’m still in the Games Village and tonight there’s a hearing during which I’ll explain to them that I have not taken anything and they can test me again and I’ll prove them wrong.”

Nigeria’s coach in Paris, Adura Olalehin, who’s a light-heavyweight bronze medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, is still mum on the issue, while probably leading the onslaught to prove Cynthia’s innocence.

Team Nigeria’s campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games got off to the worst possible start with the Super Falcons losing their opening game against Brazil on Wednesday before Ogunsemilore’s provisional suspension on Friday.

Furosemide is a masking agent that can hide the presence of other drugs. The ITA said the 22-year-old African Games lightweight champion, who also won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, has been provisionally suspended and cannot take part in the Olympics.

“The athlete has been informed of the case and has been provisionally suspended until the resolution of the matter in line with the World Anti-Doping Code, and the International Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Rules,” the ITA said.

“This means that the athlete is prevented from competing, training, coaching, or participating in any activity, during the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

“The athlete has the right to challenge the imposition of the provisional suspension before the Court of Arbitration for Sport – Anti-Doping Division. The athlete also has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample,” the ITA added.

Ogunsemilore was due to compete today in the round of 16 as the fourth-seeded boxer in the women’s 60-kilogramme (132-pound) class.
Nigeria already has a case pending at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) relating to drug violation issues lodged by the World Anti-Drugs Agency (WADA).

Nigeria registered three boxers at the Games, but one of the fighters, Dolapo Omole, was forced to withdraw from the Games following an injury he copped while training for his event last week, in Germany.

Ogunsemilore’s disqualification left the country with only one fighter, Adams Olaore Olaitan, who unfortunately, was beaten 5-0 in his opening fight against Kazakhstan’s Oralbay Aibek, yesterday. All the five judges scored the bout 10-9 against the Nigerian.

Boxing had been a veritable fishing ground for Nigeria at the Olympics with the sport producing the country’s first-ever medal at the quadrennial games. But the country has not reached the medals round since the 1996 edition in Atlanta, U.S.

Nigeria started her Paris 2024 Olympics campaign on a losing note with the Super Falcons losing 1-0 to Brazil on their return to the stage since 2008. Team Nigeria continued their woeful performance at the Games in the table tennis event, where the nation’s big hope, Aruna Quadri, crashed out miserably. He gave up a 3-0 lead to lose to Eduard Ionescu of Romania, in their round of 64 clash.

Quadri, who is playing in his fourth Olympics, won the first three sets 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, but lost the momentum and surrendered the next four to lose to the Romanian 11-8, 11-10, 11-9 and 13-11.

Before Quadri was sent packing, the other Nigerian in the table tennis event, Olajide Omotayo, had crashed out of the singles after losing 4-1 to Iran’s Alamiyan Noshad.

Omotayo won the first set 11-6, raising hopes of him securing his first win on his second attempt at the Games, but Noshad, competing in his third Olympics, showed class and experience by winning the next four games 11-5, 11-4, 12-10 and 11-8.

Meanwhile, Tunisia and South Africa, at the weekend, became the first two African countries to win medals at the Paris Olympics. The Tunisians registered their presence on the medals table courtesy of Fares Ferjani, who grabbed a silver medal in the Fencing event. He lost 11-15 in the Men’s Sabre to OH Sanguk of South Korea in the gold medal bout.

South Africa, on their part, won the bronze medal in the Rugby Sevens, beating Australia 26-19 at the Stade de France in Saint-Dennis, Paris. Host nation, France defeated Fiji 28-7 to win the gold medal. Nigeria continues its search for a medal today with the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, opening their campaign in the Games against Australia.