Ten Nigerian athletes have been ruled ineligible to participate at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), reducing the country’s hope of clinching more medals at the event.

The athletes were said to have failed to meet the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping Rules for ‘Category A’ federations.

The ‘Category A’ federations comprises of those that are said to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.

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The independent Athletic body, (AIU) charged with managing all issues of integrity, including doping and non-doping cases disclosed this in a press statement.

The AIU disclosed that out of 18 athletes ruled ineligible to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, Nigeria dominate the list with 10 athletes.

One of the major requirements of Rule 15 is that “an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted not longer than 3 weeks interval apart in the 10 months before a major event.

That is only when they would be qualified to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.

However, Nigeria with no major doping cases was included in Category A at the start of 2020 following a continued period of weak domestic testing levels, according to the AIU website.

David Howman, Chairman of AIU called on countries to play active role in the fight against doping.