AK to invite embattled Asbel for talk in bid to rescue his career

Athletics Kenya will invite the embattled three-time World 1,500 metres champion Asbel Kiprop for a ‘talk’, AK senior vice-president Paul Mutwii has said.

In wide ranging interview with Citizen Digital, Mutwii who doubles up as the Southern Region athletics chairman said the Athletics governing body will not sit back and watch the career of one of Kenya’s elite runners go the drain.

Mutwii’s sentiments come in the backdrop of the much publicised romantic escapade entangling the athlete, a middle-aged woman, and his male friend.

Kiprop has in the recent past leapt from one calamity to the other; from a failed doping test to domestic instability and Mutwii has revealed that they are ready to come to the aid of the embattled superstar.

“Soon we will call Asbel to tell us his side of the story and what is happening. We care a lot for our athletes and after what happened we must sit down with him and if need be give him an advice,” said Mutwii.

The star athlete, who has been suspended from running and charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of the IAAF after testing positive for banned blood booster, EPO appeared in a video that was uploaded on Facebook and widely shared on WhatsApp last month, in which he was seen getting cosy with a light-skinned petite lady.

Athletics Kenya (AK) President Lt. Gen. Jackson Tuwei (L) shake hand with Paul Mutwii, the officer in-charge of competition at the Riadha house offices in Nairobi, Kenya on January 28, 2016. Athletics Kenya made statement on various competitions that will take place in the 2016 season which included; preparation for National cross country championship, IAAF World indoor championship, World half marathon, Olympic marathon team, World youth championships and plans to curb doping menace. Photo/Stafford Ondego/ www.sportpicha.com
(FILE)Athletics Kenya (AK) President Lt. Gen. Jackson Tuwei (L) shake hand with Paul Mutwii, the officer in-charge of competition at the Riadha house offices in Nairobi on Kenya on January 28, 2016. Mutwii has said that the athletics body will have talks with embattled star Asbel Kiprop in bid to salvage his falling career. Photo/Stafford Ondego/Sportpicha.

According to Mutwii, the meeting is penciled to take place when the AK Supremo Jackson Tuwei jets in from the ongoing Continental Cup in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

“There must be something troubling Kiprop and we ought to know,” added Mutwii.

Meanwhile, the seasoned AK number two has backed the setting up of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory in Nairobi saying it is a huge step in the fight against doping in Kenya.

Mutwii revealed that the lab will be functional by the end of this year.

“It is a big step towards ending doping menace; at least we will do it ourselves without interference,” he averred.

The move followed the approval of the LANCET Group of Labs in Kenya as a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) approved Laboratory for Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) blood analysis.

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AK Paul Mutwii Atheltics Kenya Asbel Kiprop talk 1000th career appearance

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