Povetkin becomes latest Russian to test positive for meldonium

Sport360 staff 06:57 14/05/2016
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  • Positive test: Alexander Povetkin.

    Alexander Povetkin’s WBC heavyweight title fight with champion Deontay Wilder has been delayed after the Russian boxer tested positive for meldonium.

    Povetkin and Wilder’s bout was scheduled for May 21 in Moscow.

    “Sasha (Povetkin) used meldonium until September last year when it was not banned,” promoter Andrei Ryabinsky told R-Sport. “Only the leftover traces of meldonium at a very low concentration can still remain in his body.

    “We’re currently in talks with WBC, who will decide whether to cancel the bout or not. We expect a kind of individual decision upon the case.”

    Experienced Povetkin, 36, has a record of 30 wins and only one defeat to his name, while unbeaten American Wilder has finished 35 of his 36 bouts with KO’s.

    Meldonium has been propelled into the spotlight since Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova tested positive for the drug at the Australian Open in January. Since then, a string of Russian athletes, including Olympic swimmer Yulia Efimova, have admitted to testing positive for the drug.

    Russia replaced its entire U-18 world ice hockey championship team to “minimise” the risk of testing positive for meldonium, the country’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko said last month.

    But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has said some athletes could escape a ban for taking meldonium because it does not know for sure how long it takes the substance to leave the body.

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