SHE FOUGHT tooth and nail to give the country its first Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) taekwondo gold medal, only to find out two months later that she could be stripped of the title.
Thomasian Esther Marie Singson, the SEAG 2005 bantamweight division titlist, is in danger of losing her medal after coming out positive for diuretics in a urinalysis conducted by the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine (PCSM) after the biennial multi-sports meet.
Diuretics, which increase sodium in and water excretion by the kidney, is banned in sports because it can be misused to lose weight quickly and have adverse side-effects such as potassium deficiency and dehydration, which can lead to fatal kidney or heart failures.
The substance was traced to the herbal slimming tea, Kankunis, which Singson drank early in October to shed two pounds to reach the 55kg required weight in her division. The UST jin passed the first test conducted by the PCSM before the competition.
“It was an honest mistake,” Singson said. “I never intended to cheat or anything like that.”
UST coach and Vietnam SEAG silver medalist Dindo Simpao, who described Singson as a god-fearing individual, believes she will not do anything to destroy her career.
The diminutive lady jin beat Sydney Olympian Juana Wangsa Putri of Indonesia, 4-2, to earn the women’s bantamweight title last November. Singson bagged her second Most Valuable Player award in the UAAP taekwondo tournament early in February.
SEAG competition rules dictate that winning athletes testing positive for banned substances after the games will be stripped of their titles.
The SEAG Federation Council is still deliberating Singson’s case. It is set to reach a verdict next month.
