Kick-boxer Badr Hari caught doping: report
Badr Hari was caught doping. The Doping Authority found traces of the banned substance in the 34-year-old kick boxer's urine after his comeback victory against Hesdy Gerges last year, Nieuwsuur reports. The former world champion now faces suspension for up to four years.
Three other kick boxers also tested positive for doping - Dutch Hesdy Gerges, Croatian Mladen Brestovac, and Brazilian Ariel Machado. The case now lies with a disciplinary judge, who will decide wether the four kick boxers will be suspended. They have two weeks to submit a statement to the sports justice institute ISR.
Kick boxing union Glory refused to respond. According to the news program, Glory wants to terminate its cooperation with the ISR and cover up the four doping cases. "Glory sent us a letter saying that they want to cancel the contract", secretary Henk van Alle of the ISR confirmed to Nieuwsuur.
Both Hari and Macho refused to respond to Nieuwsuur's finding. Gerges said that he did not want to comment. And Brestovac said he knows nothing about the positive tests. "There were letters, but I do not speak Dutch", the Croatian man said.
After being absent from the kick boxing world for 15 months due to a prison sentence, Hari made his comeback by beating Gerges on points at Ahoy Rotterdam last year. There has long been speculation about a confrontation between Hari and current Glory Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven, but with suspension looming for Hari this seems unlikely.
