Weightlifter returns to Cyprus after failing drugs test

A Cypriot weightlifter taking part in the Rio Olympics had his credentials revoked by the island’s Olympic Committee after he tested positive for a banned substance, it was announced on Friday.

Antonis Martasides has been told to return to Cyprus after a banned substance was detected in a urine sample he provided on July 25 when he was not competing, the committee said, without providing more details.

The sample was collected in Athens, the announcement said.

The committee said it immediately revoked the athlete’s credentials and asked him to return to Cyprus.

The 24-year-old athlete had qualified for the Olympics while competing for Greece. He was representing Cyprus after receiving the Cypriot citizenship.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.