China bans official for leading a Kenyan athlete down the wrong route

Image result for The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) on Monday banned an official for one year for leading a Kenyan athlete down the wrong route

Long-distance and marathon running is booming in China, bringing with it a growing number of instances of brazen cheating or poor organisation.

Stern sports rules breach repercussion has been witnessed from the country after the the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) on Monday banned an official for one year for leading a Kenyan athlete down the wrong route near the end of the Qingdao Marathon in Eastern China on May 4, 2019.

Kenya’s Biegon Andrew Kiplangat followed a guiding car down the wrong route with just 300 meters left in the race

A report by local sports daily indicated that footage showed a perplexed Kiplangat frozen for a moment before a security guard showed him the direction to take.

Image result for The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) on Monday banned an official for one year for leading a Kenyan athlete down the wrong route

Huang Jianyi, the banned official, will not be allowed to oversee any marathons during that period, the CAA announced.

“He didn’t take the guide car to direct runners as required and didn’t correctly guide the runner, resulting in the incident that the leading athlete ran the wrong way when he was about to sprint,” added the Chinese athletics body.

Despite the setback, Kiplangat went on to win the race in two hours, 22 minutes and 17 seconds, according to the official record.

Image result for The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) on Monday banned an official for one year for leading a Kenyan athlete down the wrong route

However, the victory did not stop CAA from banning the Jianyi over what they termed as “dereliction of duty”.

This is not the first incident to tarnish the image of athletics in China.

In March 2019, a woman was caught using a bicycle in parts of a marathon while other athletes resorted to using shortcuts.

Three Chinese runners were banned for life for forging their times to qualify for the 2019 Boston Marathon.

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