Team Nigeria’s celebration of Blessing Okagbare’s  women’s 100m gold feat and a new Commonwealth Games record was yesterday dampened by the provisionaly suspension of weightlifting gold medallist, Chika Amalaha, for a failed dope test.
The ‘A’ sample of the 16-year-old weightlifter who won Nigeria’s first gold medal of the games with a combined total of 196kg in the women’s 53kg category, was found to contain amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide, which are both prohibited as diuretics and masking agents .

Amalaha will have a ‘B’ sample tested today to determine her fate. In the event that the second test also proved positive, she will be stripped of the medal and ordered out of the Games Village.
The teenager won gold last Friday, as Dika Toua took silver to secure Papua New Guinea’s first medal of Glasgow 2014, with India’s Santoshi Matsa winning bronze.
Amalaha is the first athlete to fail a test at the Games, but Welsh 400m hurdler Rhys Williams and 800m runner Gareth Warburton both missed the competition after being charged with anti-doping rule violations. Both athletes deny knowingly taking any banned substance.

All of yesterday, the young lifter who won three gold medals for Nigeria at the last African Youth Championship in Gaborone, Botswana, was all tears, claiming her innocence.
“The young lady will need a psychologist to bring her back to her real self because the news has devastated her.
“She was looking forward to a brilliant career after her good outing at the last African Youth Championship in Botswana, where she won three gold medals for Nigeria,” observed an official of Team Nigeria last night.
The official who will not want his name in print blamed the girl’s problems on those who were supposed to monitor the diet and medications of the athletes.

“For now, the team’s technical officials are to blame for not been able to manage the diets of the athlete and others whom may still be found wanting for similar problems,” stressed the official.
Spokesman of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Tony Ubani said an official statement from the camp will only be made public after the result of the B sample has been released by the organizing committee of the Games.
“As at this moment, Amahala is still a member of the team and cannot be isolated in her time of grief,” he said