The Belarusian national anti-doping agency (NADA) has issued four year bans to five athletes found guilty of doping offences. According to a list published on the Belarusian NADA’s internet site, all five sanctions were issued yesterday. The athletes are Nikolay Varikou (handball), Ilya Makovskiy (cycling), Yegor Mironchik (cycling), Anis Ananenko (athletics) and Eugeniy Rachok (race-walking).

The most high-profile of the five is Ananenko, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2013 European Indoor Championships. His ban will date from 15 June 2015 to 16 June 2019, and his results from the Belarus Cup on 27 May 2015 will be cancelled. The substance concerned was GW1516, which was developed to burn fat whilst exercising, but was withdrawn from development after Glaxosmithkline found that it caused cancer in rodents. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) issued a warning about the substance in 2013.

Varikou was banned from 29 April 2015 until 28 April 2019, after he tested positive for a metabolite of drostanolone, trenbolone and metandienone – all steroids. Cyclists Makovskiy and Mironchik were both banned from 7 May 2015 until 6 May 2019, after both tested positive for a metabolite of metandienone. Race-walker Rachok was banned from 13 May 2015 until 12 May 2019, however the anti-doping rule violation involved was not disclosed.