NAIROBI — Kenya's Rita Jeptoo, winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons, has been banned for two years after failing a drugs test, Athletics Kenya (AK) said Friday. The biggest doping scandal to hit the East African country in recent years, Jeptoo's case has focused attention on Kenyan athletes who are among the world's best middle and long distance runners but have failed a number of drug tests. Kenya's sports minister this week said the rise in doping has "embarrassed" his country. David Rudisha, the Olympic 800m champion, said he fears for Kenya's hard-won reputation after repeat allegations of doping. "AK followed due process in her (Rita Jeptoo) matter and it was appropriate that she serves a two-year ban," AK chief executive Isaac Kamande told Reuters. Jeptoo, provisionally suspended from athletics after the A sample proved positive, had asked for a B check which also tested positive for a banned substance. Jeptoo, 33, has denied doping, telling reporters last year that the accusations against her were "lies". She could not be reached for comment Friday. Zaripova banned Russian steeplechaser Yulia Zaripova has been banned for two-and-a-half years for doping offenses, the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA said Friday. Zaripova, 28, was suspended after her biological passport showed abnormalities and her results from June 20 to Aug. 20 2011 and July 3-Sept. 3 2012 have been annulled. Zaripova won gold in the women's 3,000m steeplechase at the London Olympics in 2012, setting a new personal best in the process. But the result has been annulled and Zaripova could lose her gold medal. She also won gold in the world championships in South Korea in 2011, but this result has not been called into question. Zaripova missed the 2013 world championships in Moscow because of injury and has not competed since. Russian heptathlete Tatyana Chernova has also been banned for taking illegal substances, RUSADA said on its website. The double Olympic bronze medalist had a sample from the 2009 world championships in Berlin retested in 2013 following a request by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The 27-year-old tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Oral Turinabol and has been suspended for two years, starting from July 22, 2013. Collins wins 60m win Veteran Kim Collins continued to roll back the years to claim victory in the 60m at the Duesseldorf indoor meet Thursday. The St Kitts and Nevis sprinter, 38, ran a season's leading best time of 6.52 seconds despite having only the seventh best reaction out of the blocks of the eight competitors. The 2003 world outdoor 100m champion, also twice a world indoor 60m silver medalist in 2003 and 2008, was pushed all the way by Briton James Dasaolu. Dasaolu, reigning European 100m champion and 60m silver medalist in 2013, was beaten into second by thousandths of a second in a savage dip of heads at the line. American Mike Rodgers, who served a nine-month doping ban in 2011, came in third in 6.58sec. Cuban Dayron Robles, the 2010 world indoor champion, was upstaged in the 60m hurdles by Briton Lawrence Clarke. Clarke's dip proved decisive as he clocked a personal best of 7.63sec, Germany's Erik Balnuweit at one-hundredth of a second, just edging Robles into third. Home favorite Verena Sailer could only manage fourth in the women's 60m, won by South African Carina Horn in a personal best of 7.21sec, with American Jessica Young and Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji completing the podium. — Agencies
