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Kenya's convicted drug cheat Kisorio eyes Guiyang WXC slot

Xinhua, January 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

Carrying the tag "drug cheat" is a yoke that would ground many a sportspersons but Kenya's Matthew Kisorio, the convicted banned substance Norandrosterone user who served his two-year ban from the sport, is keen to redeem his image by returning to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang, China.

Kisorio, who was sin-binned from July 11, 2012 to July 10 last year, always maintained his innocence, saying he partook in the prohibited substance following bad advice and ignorance from medics and unscrupulous managers who abandoned him when he was cast out as a doping pariah.

Last weekend, his brave comeback to the sport came a step closer when he finished second at the senior men 12km long race during the Kenya Police Cross Country Championships in Nairobi.

With that, the 25-year-old earned his ticket to vie for a slot in the national team during the February National Championships cum Trials for Guiyang and should he one of the six slots, it would represent quite a sensational return to the big time.

"It was a good race but I did not want to push myself very hard. My biggest target was to get into the top six and earn a qualification and now that I have achieved that, I am looking forward to the national trials at Uhuru Gardens," Kisorio said on Friday.

"My eyes are now fixed on the National Trials and I want to tell everyone to prepare for a tough battle. The national title has always eluded me but I want to go down and get it. If I get at least a ticket to the World Cross Country championships, I want to bring a medal home," Kisorio said.

Having ran 37:34 to finish behind World Half Marathon and three- time champion, Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor at the Police meet, Kisorio's potential return to the Kenyan team would ruffle a few feathers for a country struggling to shed itself off the doping scourge.

Only this week, it was announced eight Kenyan distance runners have received world body IAAF sanctions for various doping offences that were under analysis with the decision of sanctions against female marathon star, Rita Jeptoo, who tested positive for Erythropoietin still pending after a hearing in Nairobi earlier this month.

"For now, we can't speak about Kisorio since the trials have not yet been run and forced his way to positions where he may be included in the team," Athletics Kenya chief executive, Isaac Mwangi said on the potential of the convicted drug cheat running to one of the four automatic places reserved for the country's World Cross team. Endite