5 North Korean Footballers Failed Doping Test

Posted July 17th, 2011 at 4:45 pm (UTC-5)
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Five North Korean football players have now tested positive for a banned steroid at the women's World Cup in Germany.

Football's world governing body, FIFA, announced three new cases on Saturday, but did not disclose the women's names.

FIFA ordered testing for all members of the North Korean club after two of its players — Jong Sun Song and Sim Pok Jong — tested positive for the banned drug earlier this month.

The Associated Press says North Korean officials assert that the players did not take the drug to enhance their performance, but as treatment for injuries from a lightning strike at a training camp. The banned substance came from a musk deer gland that is used in traditional Asian medicine.

This is World Cup's biggest doping scandal since Argentina's Diego Maradona was disqualified from the men's tournament in 1994.