Thai paralympic champion banned over missed drug tests

Thailand’s decorated wheelchair racing athlete Prawat Wahoram issued a detailed response following his one-year ban by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for anti-doping rule violations (ADRV), emphasising he has never used banned substances throughout his career.

Following the IPC’s announcement of the ban, Prawat took to Facebook to present his side of the story.

“I affirm with honour from over 25 years of service to my country that I have never used any banned substances, in full compliance with IPC anti-doping regulations.”

He acknowledged missing two tests due to personal and family negligence but maintains the third missed test resulted from an IPC registration system error, which he says the organisation has acknowledged.

Prawat expressed deep disappointment about the situation, noting he had spent four years preparing for the 2024 Paralympic Games in France. He invited media representatives to contact him directly for any additional information needed.

The violation stems from Wahoram’s participation in the IPC Registered Testing Pool, which requires athletes to regularly file their whereabouts details for testing purposes and specify a daily one-hour time slot when they will be available at a specific location for testing.

Between May 1, 2023, and April 21, 2024, Wahoram accumulated one filing failure and two missed tests.

The IPC imposed a provisional suspension on July 19, pending case resolution. The final ruling, determined by the Independent Anti-Doping Tribunal, found Prawat in violation of IPC Anti-Doping Code Article 2.4 regarding whereabouts failures. Under IPC regulations, three whereabouts failures within 12 months constitute an ADRV.

The sanctions include a one-year period of ineligibility from July 19, 2024, to July 18, 2025, disqualification of all results from April 21, 2024 (third whereabouts failure date) until the provisional suspension and the forfeiture of any medals, points, and prizes during this period.

Wahoram’s athletic career spans six Paralympic Games from 2000 to 2020, during which he competed in Category T54 wheelchair-racing events.

His impressive Paralympic record includes seven gold medals, eight silver medals and one bronze medal.

This record establishes him as Thailand’s most successful Paralympic athlete to date. The ban prevented his participation in the 2024 Paralympic Games in France, for which he states he had been thoroughly preparing over the past four years.

The ban resulted from a full hearing by the Independent Anti-Doping Tribunal, which holds jurisdiction over alleged ADRVs under the IPC’s Anti-Doping Code. The tribunal specifically addressed the violation of Article 2.4 of the IPC IF Rules concerning whereabouts failures by an athlete, reported the Nation.