German wheelchair basketball player Ahmet Coskun has failed a doping test ahead of the Paralympics and has been sent back to Germany, though he says he was fighting baldness.
Finasteride is on a list of banned substances
because, according to the statement, although it
does not enhance performance itself, it can be used
to conceal drugs that do.
The substance is, however, also found in anti-hair loss treatments, which is what Coskun claimed he was using it for according to the statement.
"I was thinking about my hair and had no idea that
the drug, which is against hair loss, contained a
banned substance. I'm very upset. I never intended
to do doping," the statement quoted 33-year-old
Coskun as saying.
It is the second incidence of doping ahead of the
Paralympics opening ceremony after Pakistani power
lifter Naveed Ahmed Butt tested positive for the
steroid methandienone metabolites on Tuesday Sep. 9.
