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No force to break Ramadan
06/11/2003 19:48 - (SA)
Manchester, England - UK Sport on Thursday denied that its drug-testers forced a Muslim soccer player to break his Ramadan fast and drink water to provide a urine sample for a doping control.
Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan was quoted in several British newspapers as saying that midfielder Christian Negouai "was forced to drink water so he could get a urine sample, and he didn't want to do it."
Muslims are forbidden to eat or drink between dawn and sunset during the holy month of Ramadan.
"I am outraged at what has been claimed, and having spoken to the lead doping control officer, strongly refute the claims that Negouai was forced to drink water," UK Sport chief executive Richard Callicott said in a statement.
"In no circumstances would a sportsman or woman be forced to drink water. Also, no time limit is put on a provision of a sample. The officer involved would have been prepared to stay with Negouai until he had produced a sufficient amount of urine, including until nightfall had it been necessary."
Negouai, a Frenchman born on the Caribbean island of Martinique, was fined £2 000 ($3 350) last season after missing a drug test.
"Because of what happened last season, Christian is going to get tested two or three times," Keegan said. "But he was upset about having to break the rules of Ramadan."
- AP
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