Japanese Sprint canoeist Yasuhiro Suzuki has been sanctioned with an eight year ban for spiking the drink of rival Seiji Komatsu in order to cause him to fail an anti-doping test, an investigation by the Japan Canoe Federation has found. It is understood that 32 year old Suzuki and his 25 year old rival Komatsu were top prospects to represent Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Suzuki admitted administering prohibited substances to rival players after the Canoe Federation found that he had carried out ‘numerous obstructive acts’, read a statement from the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA). The statement also said that the Canoe Federation had agreed to set up official drinks stores at official competitions to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. The incident occurred at the national canoe sprint championships in September 2017.