FIFA confirms two-year suspension of Cuban for doping

In an official statement, the head of the Disciplinary Committee of the International Association of Football Federation (FIFA) decided to extend sanctions imposed on two players, from Malta and Cuba, "for violations of the anti-doping rule."

The sanctions, which were extended in accordance with article 136 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, indicate that “the footballer of the Cuban national team, Abel Juan Martínez Colón, had been sanctioned by the Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) from all types of activities related to football (administrative, sports or any other) for a period of one year and three months. The player will be suspended until April 25, 2018.”

The player will be suspended until April 25, 2018

In the case of Ishmael Grech, who had been sanctioned by the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel of his country, Malta, FIFA confirmed a punishment for a period of one year and three months, which he will serve until July 28, 2017.

Cuban Abel Martínez, for his part, was one of the main absences from the October 7 match in Havana against the United States precisely because of this process, whose final decision he has just learned in Mexico City where he is in the ranks of Cruz Azul Hidalgo, a branch of the well-known Mexican “cementero” team of the first division.

Although the official media of the island have not reported on this case, it has emerged that the player - nephew of the Olympic javelin champion, Maria Caridad Colón - was detected with the banned diuretic Furosemide in a sample analyzed in the Montreal laboratory. after a match at the CONCACAF Pre-Olympic Championship, held in the United States at the end of 2015.

A second Cuban player, Arturo Diz Pé, on whom another Mexican team, Santos Laguna, had bet in his opening with the island's football team in 2015, was also found to have the same substance during his participation in this qualifying tournament for the Rio Games. . This player denied that he had taken doping and after traveling abroad for the opening of the so-called "B" test, he disappeared on Canadian soil.

Before moving to the United States, the Cuban team is supposed to have been examined by the Havana anti-doping laboratory. According to ESPN Digital, the sports director of the well-known “cement” club, Eduardo de la Torre, reported that the player had appealed to FIFA with the support of the Cuban Football Association. Martínez was dropped from the light blue team for the current campaign although he has a contract until next December with Cruz Azul Hidalgo.

In statements to that Internet portal, the player assured that the doping would have been induced to harm him, because "I did not leave the hotel at any time, I did not go anywhere before the game. Most likely, they put something in the food." commented regarding the scenario in the US.

For ESPN Digital, "the strange thing about the matter is that it is known that at the beginning of this year, Arturo Diz Pé received notification from CONCACAF that he had tested positive for doping, while Cruz Azul was notified about the case of Martínez two months later.”

Diuretics are in the crosshairs of the medical commissions of the International Olympic Committee and other international federations for being considered “covering agents.” A diuretic cost him the Olympic silver medal eight years after the Beijing Olympics, the famous Cuban disco player Yarelis Barrios, the same medication was detected in another Cuban athlete in that multidisciplinary event, Wilfredo Martínez, fifth place in the long jump, who decided to settle in Spain some time ago.

All Cuban athletes accused of doping have pleaded not guilty.