SERBIAN heavyweight boxer Emir Ahmatovic has received a four-year ban from the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) following an anti-doping violation.
After his loss to David Adeleye on June 9, 2023, which ended in a fifth-round retirement for the German-based boxer, UKAD collected three urine samples from Ahmatovic. The samples revealed an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for metandienone, an anabolic androgenic steroid listed under section S1.1 of the 2023 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List, banned at all times.
On August 9, 2023, UKAD imposed a provisional suspension on Ahmatovic. He disputed the findings, claiming the AAF was “caused either by departures from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s International Standard for Testing & Investigations (ISTI), or through the unintentional consumption of contaminated food or contaminated supplements.”
In an email sent on August 18, 2023, Ahmatovic expressed shock at the AAF, stating he could not explain the presence of a metandienone metabolite in the A sample.
The case was referred to the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) on October 18, 2024. The tribunal rejected Ahmatovic’s claims, and his four-year ban was enforced from the date of his provisional suspension, lasting until August 8, 2027.
Ahmatovic appealed the decision, and a separate NADP appeal tribunal reviewed the case on April 1, 2025. The appeal tribunal upheld the original findings, confirming the four-year ban.
