PARAMARIBO, Suriname, (CMC) – SURINAME sprinter, Issamade Asinga, will have to serve a four-year ban imposed by World Athletics after his appeal was denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Asinga, who previously held the World Under-20 men’s 100-metre record of 9.89 seconds, was provisionally suspended in 2023 by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for the banned substance GW1516.
On May 27, 2024, he was officially banned for four years by World Athletics and all of his results since July 18, 2023, have been disqualified.
Asinga, who will be eligible to compete in 2027, attributed his positive doping test to Gatorade products he had received after being named the Gatorade 2023 National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year in the United States.
The sprinter indicated that he had taken gummies, which were in Gatorade’s package as part of his selection, a week before the doping test.
Asinga sued Gatorade in 2024, but in April 2025, a U.S. District Judge dismissed the case.
In their ruling handed down, CAS rejected the request of the Surinamese sprinter to reduce or reverse his doping suspension.
“After reviewing the evidence, the athlete has failed to demonstrate that it was more than likely that the gummies he had ingested before his anti-doping test were contaminated with GW1516.
“Therefore, a lesser penalty for no guilt or negligence did not apply. The athlete also failed to demonstrate that his positive doping test was not intentional,” CAS ruled.
Chairman of the Surinamese Athletics Federation (SAB), Dennis Mac Donald, expressed his disappointment at the decision.
“It is not pleasant news for the athlete and the federation. It’s a shame, but we have to move on. At least we had hoped for a reduction. We did not expect this,” Mac Donald said.
Asinga introduced himself on the world stage with a breathtaking run of 9.89 seconds at the South American Championships, a World Under-20 record and Suriname national record at the time.