Abdul Malik Umayev suspended until May 2025

Belgian top judoka Abdul Malik Umayev has been suspended for two years. The 23-year-old judoka of Chechen origin missed 3 anti-doping controls between July 2022 and April 2023 and admits to the Belgian media that he has been careless in this regard.

Umayev: "I have been careless. The maximum penalty is too severe, but I accept the sanction. I will come back better," he responded to RTBF.

Umayev was still in the running for the Olympic Games in Paris, but that dream must be put on hold for the athlete ranked 41st in the 73kg category.

Every athlete must fill in their whereabouts so that a doping controller knows where and when they can come for a check. If a controller is faced with a closed door 3 times, a suspension follows. Umayev finds the pronounced punishment too severe.

"I made a mistake, but not of a nature that warrants the maximum penalty. In July 2022, when I missed the first check, I was supposed to be at training, but I didn't go, I don't remember the reason anymore. I acknowledge that the fault lies entirely with me."

"The next one was in April 2023. I left that day for a foreign training camp in Antalya, Turkey. I had indicated in the application that I would be home between 7 and 8 o'clock. Then I went to the airport. Later, a controller called me saying he was at my home. I left after 8 o'clock. I don't think I made a mistake there."

"The third missed check was a few weeks later. I was in Louvain-la-Neuve (his place of study), but the intercom was not working during that period. The controller couldn't reach me."

"I got a lawyer, we did everything we could with arguments and evidence, but they didn't listen. I quickly understood that no matter what we did, NADO decides..."

"I accept the sanction and will work on myself."

Umayev claimed a bronze medal at the Grand Slams in Antalya and Baku in 2022. He is coached by Cedric Taymans. In 2020 he won a gold medal at the European Open in Warsaw in 2020. Umayev bagged a silver medal at the European Open in Sarajevo in 2022. He competed in both U73kg and U81kg but had no chance given the competition of World number one Matthias Casse in U81kg and turned back to U73kg, but will probably get back in U81kg after his suspension in May 2025.