HAPPIER TIMES: The Cyprus national basketball team celebrating its gold medal victory at the XIII Games of Small States of Europe (GSSE).

VALLETTA, August 3, 2009 - Another doping scandal has emerged following the conclusion of the XIII Games of Small States of Europe (GSSE), this time the gold medall winning Cypriot basketball team.

Last week www.aipsmedia.com reported the doping case of Cypriot air-rifle shooter Andreas Constantinou winner of the gold medal during the XIII Games of Small States of Europe. Now the Cyprus Basketball Federation says two Cypriot players from the gold medal winning national basketball team have tested positive for illegal substances.

Several different versions are circulating within the Cypriot basketball sphere on who the player sare and which substances they were alleged to have used; however, there are indications that in the urine sample of one of the players the anti-doping team recovered traces of Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuana, and it is believed another has tested positive for anabolic steroids.

“The Cyprus Federation of Basketball, in regards to the two first positive samples that have been found in national team players after a doping control, announces that it is closely cooperating with the Cyprus Anti-Doping Committee and will comply to all regulations and processes required in this particular matter,” wrote the president of the Cyprus Basketball Federation, Giorgos Chrisostomou, in the official announcement.

The second sample was recently tested and once the results are available the case will come under FIBA’s jurisdiction to pose an eventual ban on the two players in question. Should this be the case, it would be a big blow for the Cypriot basketball team especially after great performances at the XIII Games of the Small States of Europe winning the gold medal and the upcoming EuroBasket Division B qualifiers.

After these three cases of doping during the Games of Small States one does not exclude that in the coming weeks other cases might crop up.

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