ANOTHER Filipino weightlifter has been handed a two-year ban by the International Weightlifting Federation.
The International Testing Agency (ITA) reported on its website that Paris Olympian John Ceniza has been sanctioned with a “two-year period of ineligibility” for failure to declare his whereabouts within a 12-month period.
According to the ITA, Ceniza’s ineligibility from competitions has started on October 17 and will end on October 16, 2027.
Ceniza results disqualified
Ceniza’s results beginning January 1 has also been disqualified.
“The ITA reports that weightlifter John Febuar Ceniza has been sanctioned for his Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Article 2.4 of the IWF Anti-Doping Rules (IWF ADR). John Febuar Ceniza committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period,” said the ITA on its website.
Ceniza, a two-time Southeast Asian Games silver medallist, is the second Filipino weightlifter over the past two months to be banned by the IWF after Vanessa Sarno, who will not be able to compete from August 4, 2025 to August 3, 2027.
Sarno is a two-time SEA Games gold medallist and also competed in the Paris Olympics.
Like Sarno, Ceniza also failed to declare his whereabouts which is mandatory under the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Failure to do so also doesn’t mean a failed dope test.
WADA mandates athletes under the registered testing pool to declare their whereabouts for the next three months. Information such as home address, regular activities, competition schedules, and their 60-minute time slot where they will be accessible and available for testing must be supplied to the anti-doping organizations or the Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (Phinado).
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