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<p id="1"><strong>Doha: </strong>The threat of an imminent ban by track and field governing body World Athletics, which would likely have repercussions for a number of medal contenders at next year&rsquo;s world championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics was conceded by the country&rsquo;s sports ministry in a statement issued on Thursday.</p>
<p id="2">In it, the ministry said there was a &ldquo;doping crisis&rdquo; in the East African nation and said that sports minister Ababu Namwamba, who was in Qatar for the soccer World Cup, had written to World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and &ldquo;urged&rdquo; the governing body &ldquo;not to ban Kenya.&rdquo;</p>
<p id="3">&ldquo;Government is taking firm measures to protect and uphold the integrity of athletics,&rdquo; the Kenyan sports ministry said. The Kenyan government was &ldquo;treating it as a matter of top strategic national interest,&rdquo; the ministry said. The ministry gave assurances that it was working to solve the doping problems in an apparent effort to stave off a ban. World Athletics is due to hold a meeting of its decision-making Council in Rome next week.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.magzter.com/1591660917/1669414498/articles/Z18z6CUYQ1669421857545/3699619166.jpg"></p>
<p id="5">A ban might force Kenya into a Russia-type situation, where the sanction is applied to the national track federation and athletes are forced to apply to compete as neutrals at major championships. Russia&rsquo;s track federation has been suspended&nbsp;since 2015 because of a state-sponsored doping scandal.</p>
<p id="7">Kenya finished third on the track and field medal table at the Tokyo Olympics last year with four golds, four silvers and two bronzes. A sanction on the Kenyan federation would affect the likes of marathon world-record holder and two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge and numerous other star runners like Olympic and world 800-meter champion Emmanuel Korir, two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion Faith Kipyegon and two-time 5,000-meter world champion Hellen Obiri.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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Kenya faces threat of athletics ban amid rising doping cases

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