FIBA: 'Lack of anti-doping education' led to Ravena ban

Kiefer Ravena's "lack of anti-doping education" led to his consumption of a pre-workout supplement that contained prohibited substances, according to the FIBA anti-doping panel that tried his case.

In its decision on the Gilas Pilipinas player's case, FIBA found mitigating circumstances that reduced Ravena's ban from a maximum to years to just 18 months for testing positive for DMBA, Methylhexaneamine, and Higenamine, three banned substances on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list.

Ravena told FIBA that he likely consumed the substances from a workout supplement called DUST, which he said was a recommendation from a store clerk because his usual supplement C4 was not available.

FIBA said it found no reason to doubt Ravena's statement.

"The Panel believes that had the Player performed an internet search of the product prior to taking it, he would have discovered that at least higenamine was an ingredient of DUST and would therefore not have taken it. However, the panel recalls that the Player's conduct be viewed in light of the totality of the circumstances," it said.

But FIBA noted that Ravena "was not well equipped to make the right, informed decision" to distinguish between the effects of C4 and DUST.

"The Panel finds that this erroneous assumption results from the Player's lack of anti-doping education, which in no way exonerates him, but, in the Panel's opinion contributes directly to the (low) risk wrongly perceived by the Player when using DUST," it said.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas officials on Monday said the Ravena incident serves as a "wakeup call" for the country's national basketball federation.

In a statement, Philippine Olympic Committee chairman Ricky Vargas made an "appeal to all national sports associations to be constantly aware of the dire consequences of a lack of awareness and education on what substances are to be avoided."

"Recently, I met with (Philippine Sports Commission) chairman Butch Ramirez, and we jointly decided to ramp up our anti-doping program starting with random testing of our national athletes even outside of competition environment," he said. —JST, GMA News