Jamaica's Kenneth Edwards (right) delivers a blow to China's Liu Xiaobo during the London Olympic Games. - File

AMID the firestorm of recently admitting to procedures "inconsistent with World Anti-Doping Agency International Standards", the Jamaica Anti-doping Commission (JADCO) is being severely criticised by Jason McKay, manager of tae kwon do Olympian Kenneth Edwards.

Edwards was cleared by JADCO on March 21 after testing positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide last August.

McKay, however, believes the 28-year-old fighter was not completely exonerated as he was still issued with a public reprimand. An appeal was being considered, but was abandoned because of legal costs already incurred in Edwards' defence.

Ridiculous

"The public reprimand was ridiculous and sends the wrong signal to not only the local and international martial arts community, but sponsors as well," McKay noted, pointing out that Edwards remains the only Jamaican to have ever qualified for tae kwon do at the Olympic Games, a sport in which its competitors and national bodies struggle to find sponsorship.

"Kenneth was treated unfairly by the panel issuing a public reprimand. He deserves an apology from JADCO," he said.

Edwards had hurt his hand during a demonstration and went to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was prescribed medication, an antibiotic, ciprofloxacin, which turned out to have been contaminated.

"He said he took every step to ensure the drug contained nothing which was on WADA's list of banned substances, only for his legal team to discover that the batch of medication he got from the pharmacy was, on testing, found to have been contaminated," McKay added, pointing out that JADCO accepted those findings.

"After accepting a defence on those grounds, how do you reprimand someone, who did nothing wrong, claiming strict liability as the reason?" McKay asked.

"The honourable thing to do was to declare the man completely not guilty. It is likely that no sponsor will touch him again as he was inactive for seven months.

"He missed the International Taekwondo Federation World Championships in Spain, last October. He also missed the International Sports Kickboxing Association World Champs in North Cyprus, in November, and the World Taekwondo Federation's Grand Prix in Manchester, England, in December, as a result of the positive test ," McKay pointed out.

"To clear him and reprimand him at the same time is sending mixed signals. They do not understand, at all, the damage that such a ruling can cause to an athlete in a minor sport," he added.